AMARILLO, Texas — A former Texas college student from Saudi Arabia was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for trying to make a bomb for use in a religious attack, possibly targeting a former US president.

Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari was sentenced in Amarillo, where jurors convicted him in June of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors say he had collected bomb-making material and researched possible targets, including the Dallas home of George W. Bush. A handwritten journal found in his apartment included notes that he believed it was time for ‘‘jihad,’’ a Muslim term for holy war.