WASHINGTON AP – For hours after allegedly trying to use a bomb hidden in his underwear to blow up a Christmas Day flight to Detroit, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab talked and talked – to Customs officers, medical personnel, and FBI agents.

He spoke openly about what he’d done and why, and provided valuable intelligence, U.S. officials told The Associated Press in a series of interviews that spell out for the first time the details of Abdulmutallab’s arrest and questioning on Dec. 25.