Christmas Day Underwear Bomber Trial Gets Underway With Defiant Defendant

The trial of Abdul Farouk Abdul Mutallab is getting underway today, and the suspected terrorist is defiant in his hatred and views of the United States.

A Nigerian man accused of trying to bring down an international jetliner with a bomb in his underwear walked into the start of his federal trial Tuesday and declared that a radical Islamic cleric killed by the U.S. military is alive.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's outburst came as jury selection got under way for his federal terror trial in Detroit, where the 24-year-old is acting as his own attorney and has previously told reporters they should stop reporting that Osama bin Laden was dead.

"Anwar is alive," Abdulmutallab said Tuesday, referring to American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed last week by a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike in Yemen.

"The mujahadeen will wipe out the U.S. — the cancer U.S.," he added.

Abdulmutallab, a well-educated Nigerian from an upper-class family, was directed by al-Awlaki and wanted to become a martyr when he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 in Amsterdam on Christmas 2009, according to the government.

Awlaki was killed in airstrikes a couple of days ago, but Awlaki was successful in recruiting numerous terrorists to join or act as lone wolf affiliates of al Qaeda. Mutallab is one such thug who attempted to blow up an airplane using a bomb sewn into his underwear just minutes before the plane was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. The bomb failed, but passengers and crew pounced on Mutallab to prevent further attempts and to foil the plot.

Mutallab entered not guilty pleas to multiple terrorism-related charges, including including conspiracy to commit terrorism and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. The government says he wanted to blow up the plane by detonating chemicals in his underwear, just seven minutes before the jet carrying 279 passengers and a crew of 11 was to land at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.