The Christmas Day bomber had his first day in court in Detroit yesterday, but it amounted to a few mumbled words to a judge before he was whisked back to prison to await prosecution for trying to blow up a packed jetliner with explosives concealed in his underwear.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s zipped lip was a far cry from all the bragging he’s been doing to investigators, in which he recently boasted that some 20 other young Muslim men were ready in Yemen to attack planes with “the same technique,” according to CBS News.
In court yesterday, however, the knicker bomber only muttered a quiet “yes” when asked if he understood the charges that can send him away for life behind bars.
Magistrate Judge Mark A. Randon entered a not-guilty plea for the 23-year-old during the arraignment that lasted less than five minutes.
Outside court, about 50 men and women identifying themselves as Detroit-area Muslims chanted, “We are Americans,” as they marched behind metal barricades to denounce terrorism.
During the arraignment, Abdulmutallab stood at the podium along with opposing lawyers and answered a few questions in English from the judge.
The longest answer came when the judge asked if he had taken any drugs or alcohol in past 24 hours. Abdulmutallab answered, “Some pain pills.”
Abdulmutallab, who is being held at a federal prison in Milan, Mich., had been treated at a hospital for burns after the attack.
Meanwhile, President Obama’s team of security experts aren’t quite done accepting blame for the admitted failure to “connect the dots” before the botched Christmas bomb attack.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee is calling the president’s top security officials to testify in a televised hearing probing the incident on Jan. 20 — also the anniversary of Obama’s inauguration.