ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (AP) -- A man accused of plotting to kill President George W. Bush was a trained terrorist who betrayed the United States because he was intent on "killing the leader of the infidels," U.S. prosecutors said in opening statements Monday.Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 24, from Virginia, is on trial in U.S. federal court, facing felony charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. Besides being accused of conspiring to assassinate the president, he also is charged with conspiracy to commit air piracy and offering aid to and receiving financial assistance from members of al Qaeda."He betrayed his country by joining forces with our most lethal enemy overseas," said Assistant U.S. Attorney David Laufman.Abu Ali has confessed, but the defense says he was tortured in jail in Saudi Arabia where he was arrested in 2003. Prosecutors say the confessions were voluntary,Laufman told the jury that Abu Ali talked with al Qaeda members about several plots, including smuggling terror operatives into the United States through Mexico and assassinating members of the U.S. Congress and the Army.He also took $1,300 (euro1,080) from an al Qaeda leader to buy a laptop computer so he could research the locations of nuclear power plants in the United States, Laufman said."The defendant received terrorist training in weapons, explosives and document falsification," Laufman said.The confessions obtained by Saudi security agents after his June 8, 2003, arrest will be admitted as evidence, though defense attorneys say he was tortured into making false statements."Just stop the pain, I'll say anything," defense attorney Ashraf Nubani, told jurors, paraphrasing her client's mind-set after what she described as 40 days of flogging and other abuse. She clapped her hands repeatedly during a portion of her opening statement to signify the impact of "one lash after another."Nubani said that when Abu Ali told FBI agents he'd been tortured and constantly threatened with beheading and dismemberment, they did nothing.Abu Ali studied in Saudi Arabia, she said, where he liked to engage in political discussions in coffee and tea shops. As "the American," he had a high profile."There is a mountain of reasonable doubt in this case," Nubani said.Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.