Justice for bomber

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria tried to blow up a Detroit-bound international flight with a bomb hidden in his underwear on Christmas Day 2009.

Thankfully, it did not work and he was subdued by passengers. On Thursday, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole,

The trial before federal Judge Nancy Edmunds was an open platform for the suspect, passengers and crew of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 who wanted to speak.

Mr. Abdulmutallab, 25, son of a wealthy Nigerian banker, pleaded guilty in October. He confessed that he was on a suicide mission for al-Qaida when he tried to detonate chemicals hidden in his clothes before the plane landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

While on the plane, Mr. Abdulmutallab went to the airplane lavatory and returned to his seat with the chemicals in his clothes. The device did not work, but emitted flame and smoke, causing panic.

In October, after pleading guilty, Mr. Abdulmutallab said he was carrying a “blessed weapon” to avenge Muslims around the world who had been killed or mistreated. He said that he was a follower of Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American-born cleric and al-Qaida figure in Yemen who was killed by a U.S. drone strike last fall.

His attorney, Anthony Chambers, objected that a mandatory life sentence was unconstitutional, cruel punishment in a case where no one but Mr. Abdulmutallab was physically harmed.

Government prosecutors replied: “Unsuccessful terrorist attacks still engender fear in the broader public, which, after all, is one of their main objectives. In addition, the enormous cost of the augmented security measures adopted as a direct result of defendant’s unsuccessful terrorist attack are borne by the American public at large in both increased cost, inconvenience and wasted time at airports.”

The judge agreed. The threat — what could have happened — is inconceivable. The punishment is just.