"He would have stood up in front of a jury and said, 'I wanted to murder my fellow passengers and here's why.'"

The underwear bomber, whose trial begins today, is not going to give his own opening statement, which — in the opinion of one former U.S. terrorism prosecutor — would have been disastrous.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 24, ... is officially representing himself, after firing a team of four lawyers appointed by the Detroit Federal Defender office last year.

[Anthony] Chambers is the "standby counsel" appointed by a federal judge....

Last week, he shouted "Anwar is alive" during jury selection, an apparent reference to Anwar al-Awlaki, a US-born al-Qaeda recruiter killed in a drone strike in September.

During a pre-trial hearing, Mr Abdulmutallab made similar statements about Osama Bin Laden after his publicised death.