Boston ? Richard Reid pleaded guilty with a laugh Friday to trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight with explosives hidden in his shoes, and he declared his hatred for America and his loyalty to Osama bin Laden.

“Basically I got on the plane with a bomb,” Reid said, alternately defiant and flippant. “Basically I tried to ignite it. Basically, yeah, I intended to damage the plane.”

Prosecutors said they would ask for a sentence of 60 years to life in prison, according to federal guidelines.

Reid, 29, a British citizen who converted to Islam, was accused of trying to murder the 197 people aboard a Paris-to-Miami American Airlines flight Dec. 22. He was overpowered and tied to his seat by passengers after a flight attendant saw him trying to light a fuse sticking out of his hiking shoes.