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rmv former. just because he does not hold an official position doesnt make him not an imam. just like someone is always called father or reverend even if they have no church or are retired
Undid revision 336042583 by [[Special:Contributions/Victor Victoria--per talk pg; caption clarifies that they are not connected in a nefarious sense; no consensus for removal
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===Other connections===
===Other connections===
[[File:Allen 2005.jpg|180px|thumb|left|[[Charles E. Allen|Charles Allen]], former [[DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis |U.S. Undersecretary for Homeland Security]], who in 2008 publicly warned that al-Awlaki was targeting Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks.]]
FBI agents have identified al-Awlaki as a known, important "senior recruiter for al Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.<ref name=rec/><ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-recruiter-focus-fort-hood-killings-investigation/story?id=9045492 Chucmach, Megan, and Ross, Brian, "Al Qaeda Recruiter New Focus in Fort Hood Killings Investigation Army Major Nidal Hasan Was In Contact With Imam Anwar Awlaki, Officials Say," ''ABC News'', November 10, 2009, accessed November 12, 2009]</ref>
FBI agents have identified al-Awlaki as a known, important "senior recruiter for al Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.<ref name=rec/><ref>[http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-recruiter-focus-fort-hood-killings-investigation/story?id=9045492 Chucmach, Megan, and Ross, Brian, "Al Qaeda Recruiter New Focus in Fort Hood Killings Investigation Army Major Nidal Hasan Was In Contact With Imam Anwar Awlaki, Officials Say," ''ABC News'', November 10, 2009, accessed November 12, 2009]</ref>


Revision as of 20:12, 5 January 2010

Anwar al-Awlaki
Born
Anwar Nasser Abdulla Aulaqi

b. (1971-04-22) April 22, 1971 (age 53)[1][2][3]
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Alma materColorado State University;
San Diego State University;
The George Washington University Graduate School of Education and Human Development
Occupation(s)lecturer/former Imam/
al-Qaeda Regional Commander
EmployerIman University
Known foraccused of being senior Al-Qaeda recruiter and motivator linked to various terrorists
Height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[4]

Anwar al-Awlaki (also spelled Aulaqi; Arabic: أنور العولقي Anwar al-‘Awlaqī; born (1971-04-22) April 22, 1971 (age 53)) in Las Cruces, New Mexico)[3][4][5][6] is a Muslim lecturer, spiritual leader, and imam who has been accused of being a senior talent recruiter and motivator "for al-Qaeda and all of its franchises," linked to various terrorists.[7][8] US officials in late 2009 said al-Awlaki had recently been promoted to the rank of regional commander within al-Qaeda.[9] With a blog and a Facebook page, he has been described as the "bin Laden of the internet."[10]

Originally trained as a civil engineer, al-Awlaki later became an imam. He is currently associated with Iman University in Yemen. Students of the university have allegedly been linked to assassinations, and it is headed by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, who has been designated by the US and UN as associated with terrorism and Al-Qaeda.

Al-Awlaki's sermons were attended by three of the 9/11 hijackers, as well as by accused Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan. In addition, US intelligence intercepted at least 18 emails between Hasan and al-Awlaki from December 2008 to June 2009, including one in which Hasan wrote "I can't wait to join you [in the afterlife]." Directly after the Fort Hood shooting, al-Awlaki praised Hasan's actions on his website, and then again a few days later in an interview.[11][12] The following month, a number of sources reported ties between al-Awlaki and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 terrorist attack of December 25, 2009. [13]

Sought by authorities in Yemen with regard to a new investigation into his possible Al-Qaeda ties, the authorities have been unable to locate him since approximately March 2009. He was initially reported as possibly having been killed in a Yemeni air strike on a meeting of al-Qaeda militants and leaders at his house in the mountains of eastern Shabwa in late December 2009, but by January the working assumption was that he had survived.[14]

Early life

His parents are from Yemen. Al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al-Aulaqi, earned his master's degree in agricultural economics at New Mexico State University (1971), received a doctorate at the University of Nebraska, and worked at the University of Minnesota from 1975 to 1977.[6][15]

The family returned to Yemen in 1978,[2] where al-Awlaki lived for 11 years. His father served as Agriculture Minister and as president of Sanaa University.[6][15][16]

Al-Awlaki returned to Colorado in 1991 to attend college, and holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University (1994), which he attended on a foreign student visa and Yemeni government scholarship, and an M.A. in Education Leadership from San Diego State University; he also worked on a Doctorate degree in Human Resource Development at George Washington University Graduate School of Education & Human Development from January to December 2001.[4][15][17][18][19][20] His Islamic education consists of a few intermittent months with various scholars, and reading works by several prominent Islamic scholars.[21]

Ideology

Al-Awlaki has been accused by a number of sources of Islamic fundamentalism and encouraging terrorism.[16][17][22][23] According to Harry Helms and an independent Yemeni political analyst who insisted on anonymity, Al-Awlaki is an adherent of the Wahhabi fundamentalist sect of Islam; Helms also said his sermons were extremely anti-Israel and pro-jihad.[22][23]

He is often noted for targeting young US-based Muslims with his lectures. Terrorism consultant Evan Kohlmann calls al-Awlaki "one of the principal jihadi luminaries for would-be homegrown terrorists. His fluency with English, his unabashed advocacy of jihad and mujahideen organizations, and his Web-savvy approach are a powerful combination." He calls al-Awlaki's lecture "Constants on the Path of Jihad", which he says was based on a similar document written by the founder of Al-Qaeda, the "virtual bible for lone-wolf Muslim extremists."[24]

Connections to terrorism

In the US; 1991-2002

Al-Awlaki served as an Imam in Fort Collins, Colorado, and then of the Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami mosque in San Diego, California, from 1996-2000.[17][25][4] Al-Awlaki was arrested in San Diego in 1996 and 1997 for soliciting prostitutes.[16][26][27] In 1998 and 1999 in San Diego, he served as Vice President for the Charitable Society for Social Welfare (CSSW), founded by Abdul Majeed al-Zindani.[17] During a terrorism trial, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Brian Murphy testified that CSSW was a “front organization to funnel money to terrorists,” and US federal prosecutors have described it as being used to support Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.[17][28] The FBI investigated al-Awlaki beginning in June 1999 through March 2000 for possible fundraising for Hamas, links to al-Qaeda, and a visit in early 2000 by a close associate of "the blind sheik" Omar Abdel Rahman (now in prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack), but was unable to unearth sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution.[4][17][21][22][27][25]

File:NAlhazmi.JPG
9/11 hijacker
Nawaf al-Hazmi
9/11 hijacker
Khalid al-Mihdhar

While he was in San Diego, witnesses told the FBI he had a close relationship with two of the 9/11 hijackers (Nawaf Al-Hazmi and Khalid Almihdhar) in 2000, and served as their spiritual advisor.[17][27][29] Authorities say the two hijackers regularly attended the mosque Al-Awlaki led in San Diego, and Al-Awlaki had many closed-door meetings with them, which led investigators to believe Al-Awlaki knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance.[25][27]

In his last positions in the US, he headed east and served as Imam at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in the metropolitan Washington, DC, area beginning in January 2001, and was also the Muslim Chaplain at George Washington University.[17][4][30] Fluent in English, known for giving eloquent talks on Islam, and with a mandate to attract young non-Arabic speakers, "he was the magic bullet," according to mosque spokesman Johari Abdul-Malik; "he had everything all in a box."[31] Shortly after this his sermons were attended by two of the 9/11 hijackers (Al-Hazmi again and Hani Hanjour), and by Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.[25][27][32] The September 11 Commission concluded that two of the hijackers "reportedly respected al-Awlaki as a religious figure".[23] The FBI also learned he may have been contacted by a possible "procurement agent" for Osama bin Laden, Ziyad Khaleel.[17] When police raided the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of Ramzi Binalshibh (the "20th hijacker") while investigating the 9/11 attacks, his telephone number was found among Binalshibh's personal contact information.[4][17][33]

Writing on the IslamOnline.net website six days after the 9/11 attacks, he suggested that Israeli intelligence agents might have been responsible for the attacks, and that the FBI "went into the roster of the airplanes and whoever has a Muslim or Arab name became the hijacker by default."[17] He left the US for Yemen in March 2002, following extensive FBI investigations.[17][27] Weeks later he posted an essay in Arabic titled "Why Muslims Love Death" on the Islam Today website, praising the Palestinian suicide bombers' fervor, and months later at a lecture in a London mosque that was recorded on videotape he lauded them in English.[17][27] By July 2002 he was under investigation because a subject of a US Joint Terrorism Task Force (Joint Terrorism Task Forces are FBI-led, multi-agency teams made up of FBI agents, other federal investigators—including those from the Department of Defense, and state and local law enforcement officers) investigation was discovered to have sent money to al-Awlaki, and his name was placed on an early version of what is now the federal terror watch list.[27][4][34]

In October 2002, a Denver federal judge signed off on an arrest warrant for al-Awlaki for passport fraud, but just days later, on October 9, the Denver U.S. Attorney's Office rescinded it.[4][27] The prosecutors withdrew the warrant because they ultimately felt they lacked evidence that al-Awlaki had committed a crime, according to U.S. Attorney Dave Gaouette, who authorized its withdrawal.[3] While al-Awlaki had listed Yemen as his place of birth (which the prosecutors believed was false) on his original application for a US social security number in June 1990, which he then used to obtain a passport in November 1993, he later changed his place of birth information to Las Cruces, New Mexico.[3][35] Prosecutors could not charge him for his initial lie, because a 10-year statute of limitations on lying to the Social Security Administration had expired.[36] "The bizarre thing is if you put Yemen down (on the application), it would be harder to get a Social Security number than to say you are a native-born citizen of Las Cruces," Gaouette said.[3] As a result of the withdrawal of the warrant, agents were unable to arrest him when he returned to JFK airport in the US on October 10, 2002—the following day.[4][27] ABC News reported that the decision to cancel the arrest warrant outraged members of a Joint Terrorism Task Force in San Diego who were monitoring al-Awlaki and wanted to "look at him under a microscope", but Gaouette said there was no objection to the warrant being rescinded during a meeting attended by Ray Fournier, the San Diego federal diplomatic security agent whose allegation had set in motion the effort to obtain a warrant.[3] Gaouette opined that if al-Awlaki had been convicted, he would have faced about 6 months in custody.[37]

Al-Awlaki then returned briefly to Northern Virginia, where he visited radical Islamic cleric Ali al-Timimi, who is now serving a life sentence for inciting followers to fight with the Taliban against the US, and asked him about recruiting young Muslims for "violent jihad."[17][27]

In the United Kingdom; 2002-04

Al-Awlaki left the US before the end of 2002, because of a "climate of fear and intimidation" according to Imam Johari Abdul-Malik of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque. Moving to the UK, he gave a series of lectures in December 2002 and January 2003 at the London Masjid at-Tawhid mosque, describing the rewards martyrs receive in paradise, and developing a following among ultraconservative young muslims.[4][15][17][27][38]

He spent several months in Britain in 2003, giving talks to up to 200 youths.[39] In Britain's Parliament in 2003, Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, mentioned the relationship between al-Awlaki and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), a Muslim Brotherhood front organization founded by Kemal el-Helbawy, a senior member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.[40]

In Yemen; 2004-present

Al-Awlaki returned to Yemen in early 2004, and lived in his ancestral village in the southern province of Shabwa with his wife and five children.[17][27] He became associated with and lectured at Iman University, headed by al-Zindani (who was designated a terrorist in 2004 by both the US and the UN).[15] [17] While al-Zindani promotes the school's science department, it is believed by some that its curriculum deals mostly if not exclusively with radical Islamic studies, and that it is an incubator of radicalism.[15][41] Students are suspected of having assassinated three American missionaries, and "the number two leader for the Yemeni Socialist Party, Jarallah Omar".[42] John Walker Lindh, now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army, is a former student of the university.[15][17]

On August 31, 2006, Al-Awlaki was arrested by Yemeni authorities with regard to what he claimed was a "secret police investigation" over "tribal issues", but what has been reported as charges of kidnapping a teenager for ransom and being involved in an al-Qaida plot to kidnap a US military attaché.[6][27] Al-Awlaki blames the US for pressuring the Yemeni authorities to arrest him, and says that in approximately September 2007 he was interviewed by FBI agents on subjects including the 9/11 attacks. Gregory Johnsen, a Yemen expert, noted that his name was on a list of 100 prisoners whose release was sought by al-Qaida-linked militants in Yemen.[23] After 18 months in prison in Yemen, he was finally released on December 12, 2007.[16][23]

In December 2008 he sent a communique to the Somalian terrorist group Al-Shabaab congratulating them, thanking them for "giving us a living example of how we as Muslims should proceed to change our situation. The ballot has failed us but the bullet has not", and ending "if my circumstances would have allowed I would not have hesitated in joining you and being a soldier in your ranks".[43]

The East London Mosque provoked the outrage of The Daily Telegraph by hosting a video-teleconference by al-Awlaki in 2008, and former Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve expressed concern over al-Awlaki's involvement.[44] In 2009 the mosque played a pre-recorded video lecture by al-Awlaki, with a poster depicting New York in flames, as he was barred from entering Britain since 2006 on security grounds.[45][46] On August 23, 2009, al-Awlaki was banned by local authorities in Kensington and Chelsea, London, from speaking at Kensington Town Hall via videolink to a fundraiser dinner for Guantanamo detainees promoted by Cageprisoners.[47][48]

In Yemen, he provides al-Qaeda members with the protection of his powerful tribe, the Awlakis, against the government. The tribal codes requires the tribe to protect of those who seek refuge and help, and this is an even greater imperative where the person is a member of his tribe, or a tribesman's friend. Awlaki has also reportedly helped negotiate deals with other tribal leaders.[49]

Sought by authorities in Yemen with regard to a new investigation into his possible Al-Qaeda ties, however, the authorities were unable to locate al-Awlaki since approximately March 2009, and by December 2009 al-Awlaki was on the Yemen government's most-wanted list.[50]

Other connections

Charles Allen, former U.S. Undersecretary for Homeland Security, who in 2008 publicly warned that al-Awlaki was targeting Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks.

FBI agents have identified al-Awlaki as a known, important "senior recruiter for al Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.[23][51]

Al-Awlaki's name came up in nearly a dozen terrorism cases recently in the US, UK, and Canada. In each case suspects (including suicide bombers in the 2005 London bombings, radical Islamic terrorists in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case, and radical Islamic terrorists in the 2007 Fort Dix attack plot) were devoted to al-Awlaki's message, which they listened to on laptops, audio clips, and CDs.[16][27][52] Awlaki’s recorded lectures were an inspiration to Islamist fundamentalists who comprised at least six terror cells in the UK through 2009.[39] Michael Finton (Talib Islam), who attempted on September 24, 2009, to bomb the Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in Springfield, Illinois, with one ton of explosives, admired al-Awlaki and quoted him on his Myspace page.[53] In addition to his website, al-Awlaki had a Facebook fan page, with a substantial percentage of "fans" from the US, many of whom were high school students.[21]

In October 2008, Charles Allen, US Undersecretary of Homeland Security for Intelligence and Analysis, warned that al-Awlaki "targets US Muslims with radical online lectures encouraging terrorist attacks from his new home in Yemen."[54][55]

Nidal Malik Hasan

Fort Hood suspect
Nidal Malik Hasan

Fort Hood shootings suspect Nidal Malik Hasan was investigated by the FBI after intelligence agencies intercepted at least 18 emails between him and al-Awlaki between December 2008 and June 2009.[56] Even before the contents of the emails were revealed, author Jarret Brachman said that Hasan's contacts with al-Awlaki should have raised "huge red flags". According to Brachman, al-Awlaki is a major influence on radical English-speaking jihadis internationally.[57]

In one of the emails, Hasan wrote al-Awlaki: "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife. "It sounds like code words," said Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, a military analyst at the Center for Advanced Defense Studies. "That he's actually either offering himself up, or that he's already crossed that line in his own mind." Hasan also asked al-Awlaki when jihad is appropriate, and whether it is permissible if innocents are killed in a suicide attack.[58] In the months before the attacks, Hasan increased his contacts with al-Awlaki to discuss how to transfer funds abroad without coming to the attention of law authorities.[56]

A DC-based joint terrorism task force that operates under the FBI was notified of the emails, and the information was reviewed by one of its Defense Criminal Investigative Service personnel. Army employees were informed of the emails, but they didn't perceive any terrorist threat in Hasan's questions. Instead, they viewed them as general queries about spiritual guidance with regard to conflicts between Islam and military service, and judged them to be consistent with legitimate mental health research about Muslims in the armed services.[59] The assessment was that there was not sufficient information for a larger investigation.[60] Despite two Defense Department investigators on two joint task forces looking into Hasan's communications, Defense Department higher-ups said they were not notified of such investigations before the shootings. ABC News has reported that another government said that Hasan also had contact with other people being tracked by the FBI, who have not been publicly identified.

Charles Allen, no longer in government, said: "I find it difficult to understand why an Army major would be in repeated contact with an Islamic extremist like Anwar al-Awlaki, who preaches a hateful ideology directed at inciting violence against the United States and the West... It is hard to see how repeated contact would in any legitimate way further his research as a psychiatrist."[61] And former CIA officer Bruce Riedel opined: "E-mailing a known al-Qaeda sympathizer should have set off alarm bells. Even if he was exchanging recipes, the bureau should have put out an alert."[61]

Al-Awlaki had set up a website, with a blog on which he shared his views.[61] On December 11, 2008, he condemned any Muslim who seeks a religious decree "that would allow him to serve in the armies of the disbelievers and fight against his brothers."[61] The NEFA Foundation noted that on December 23, 2008, six days after he said Hasan first e-mailed him, al-Awlaki wrote on his blog: "The bullets of the fighters of Afghanistan and Iraq are a reflection of the feelings of the Muslims towards America".[62]

In "44 Ways to Support Jihad," another sermon posted on his blog in February 2009, al-Awlaki encouraged others to "fight jihad", and explained how to give money to the mujahideen or their families after they've died. Al-Awlaki's sermon also encouraged others to conduct weapons training, and raise children "on the love of Jihad." [63] Also that month, he wrote: "I pray that Allah destroys America and all its allies."[61] He wrote as well: "We will implement the rule of Allah on Earth by the tip of the sword, whether the masses like it or not."[61] On July 14, he criticized armies of Muslim countries that assist the US military, saying, "the blame should be placed on the soldier who is willing to follow orders ... who sells his religion for a few dollars."[61] In a sermon on his blog on July 15, 2009, entitled "Fighting Against Government Armies in the Muslim World," al-Awlaki encouraged Muslims to fight against American soldiers, and wrote, "Blessed are those who fight against them, and blessed are those shuhada [martyrs] who are killed by them."[64][65]

A fellow Muslim officer at Fort Hood said Hasan's eyes "lit up" when gushing about al-Awlaki's teachings.[66]

After the Fort Hood shooting, on his now temporarily inoperable website (apparently because some web hosting companies took it down),[16] al-Awlaki praised Hasan's actions:[11]

"Nidal Hassan is a hero. He is a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people.... Any decent Muslim cannot live, understanding properly his duties towards his Creator and his fellow Muslims, and yet serve as a US soldier. The US is leading the war against terrorism which in reality is a war against Islam. Its army is directly invading two Muslim countries and indirectly occupying the rest through its stooges.
Nidal opened fire on soldiers who were on their way to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. How can there be any dispute about the virtue of what he has done? In fact the only way a Muslim could Islamically justify serving as a soldier in the US army is if his intention is to follow the footsteps of men like Nidal.
The heroic act of brother Nidal also shows the dilemma of the Muslim American community. Increasingly they are being cornered into taking stances that would either make them betray Islam or betray their nation. Many amongst them are choosing the former. The Muslim organizations in America came out in a pitiful chorus condemning Nidal’s operation.
The fact that fighting against the US army is an Islamic duty today cannot be disputed. No scholar with a grain of Islamic knowledge can defy the clear cut proofs that Muslims today have the right - rather the duty - to fight against American tyranny. Nidal has killed soldiers who were about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in order to kill Muslims. The American Muslims who condemned his actions have committed treason against the Muslim Ummah and have fallen into hypocrisy....
May Allah grant our brother Nidal patience, perseverance, and steadfastness, and we ask Allah to accept from him his great heroic act. Ameen."[67][68]

Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Hider Shaea interviewed al-Awlaki in November 2009.[69] Al-Awlaki acknowledged his correspondence with Hasan, and said he "neither ordered nor pressured Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to harm Americans". Al-Awlaki said Hasan first e-mailed him December 17, 2008. He described Hasan introducing himself, and writing: "Do you remember me? I used to pray with you at the Virginia mosque." According to al-Awlaki, Hasan said he had become a devout Muslim around the time al-Awlaki was preaching at Dar al-Hijrah, in 2001 and 2002, and he said 'Maybe Nidal was affected by one of my lectures.'" Al-Awlaki said, "It was clear from his e-mails that Nidal trusted me. Nidal told me: 'I speak with you about issues that I never speak with anyone else.'" Al-Awlaki said Hasan arrived at his own conclusions regarding the acceptability of violence in Islam, and said he was not the one to initiate this. Shaea summarized their relationship by saying, "Nidal was providing evidence to Anwar, not vice versa."[69]

Asked whether Hasan mentioned Fort Hood as a target in his e-mails, Shaea declined to comment. However, al-Awlaki said the shooting was acceptable in Islam because it was a form of jihad, as the West began the hostilities with the Muslims. The cleric also denounced what he described as contradictory behavior by Muslims who condemned Hasan's actions and "let him down."[70] Referring to the post on his blog praising the shootings after they occurred, al-Awlaki said he "blessed the act because it was against a military target. And the soldiers who were killed were not normal soldiers, but those who were trained and prepared to go to Iraq and Afghanistan".[69]

Terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 suspected bomber

A number of sources reported ties between al-Awlaki and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the suspect in the Northwest Airlines Flight 253 terrorist attack of December 25, 2009.

Representative Pete Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said officials in the Obama administration and officials with access to law enforcement information told him the suspect "may have been in contact with ... al-Awlaki." He continued: "there are reports that he had contact and that he was recently in Yemen. The question we'll have to raise is was this imam in Yemen influential enough to get some people to attack the U.S. again."[71][72][73] Hoekstra added in an interview: "The suspicion is ... that [the suspect] had contact with al-Awlaki. The belief is this is a stronger connection with al-Awlaki" than Hasan had.[74] On December 27, Hoekstra said that credible sources told him the suspect "most likely" has ties with al-Awlaki.[75][76]

The Sunday Times has established that Abdulmutallab first met al-Awlaki in 2005 in Yemen while he was studying Arabic.[77] During that time the suspect attended lectures by al-Awlaki.[39]

Fox News reported that evidence collected during searches of "flats or apartments of interest" connected to Abdulmutallab in London showed that he was a "big fan" of al-Awlaki, as web traffic showed he followed Awlaki's blog and website.[78] CBS News and The Daily Telegraph reported that Abdulmutallab was at a talk by al-Awlaki at the East London Mosque (which al-Awlaki may have attended by video teleconference).[79][80] The two are "thought to have met" in London, according to The Daily Mail.[81]

University of Oxford historian, and professor of international relations, Mark Almond wrote that the suspect was "on American security watch-lists because of his links with ... Al-Awlaki".[82]

CBS News said that the two were communicating in the months before the bombing attempt, and sources say that at a minimum al-Awlaki was providing spiritual support.[83] The Washington Post reported that according to federal sources, over the year prior to the attack, Abdulmutallab intensified electronic communications with al-Awlaki.[84] The paper also reported that one government source described intercepted "voice-to-voice communication" between the two during the fall of 2009, saying that al-Awlaki "was in some way involved in facilitating [Abdulmutallab]'s transportation or trip through Yemen. It could be training, a host of things."[85]

The Times reported that Abdulmutallab told the FBI that al-Awlaki was one of his trainers when he underwent al-Qaeda training in remote camps in Yemen, and that there were "informed reports" that Abdulmutallab met al-Awlaki during his final weeks of training and indoctrination prior to the attack.[86][87] The Los Angeles Times reported that according to a U.S. intelligence official: "intercepts and other information" point to connections between the two.

"Some of the information ... comes from Abdulmutallab, who ... said that he met with al-Awlaki and senior al-Qaeda members during an extended trip to Yemen this year, and that the cleric was involved in some elements of planning or preparing the attack and in providing religious justification for it. Other intelligence linking the two became apparent after the attempted bombing, including communications intercepted by the National Security Agency indicating that the cleric was meeting with "a Nigerian" in preparation for some kind of operation."[88]

Yemen's Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs, Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi, said Yemeni investigators believe the suspect traveled in October to Shabwa, where he met with suspected al-Qaida members in a house built by al-Awlaki and used by al-Awlaki to hold theological sessions, and was trained and equipped with his explosives.[89] "If he went to Shabwa, for sure he would have met Anwar al-Awlaki," al-Alimi said. Al-Alimi also said he believed al-Awlaki is alive.[90] And Abdul Elah al-Shaya, a Yemeni journalist, said a healthy al-Awlaki called him on December 28 and said that the Yemeni government's claims as to his death were "lies". Shaya declined to comment as to whether al-Awlaki had told him about any contacts he may have had with Abdulmutallab. According to Gregory Johnsen, a Yemeni expert at Princeton University, Shaya is generally reliable.[91]

Current status

Yemeni authorities have been trying to locate al-Awlaki, who according to his father disappeared approximately March 2009. He was believed to be hiding in Yemen's Shabwa or Mareb regions, which are part of the so-called "triangle of evil" (known as such because it attracts al-Qaeda militants seeking refuge among local tribes that are unhappy with Yemen's central government).[33]

Reports quoting Yemeni sources originally said al-Awlaki may have been killed in a pre-dawn air strike by Yemeni fighter jets on a meeting of senior al-Qaeda militants and leaders at a hideout in Rafd, a remote mountain valley in eastern Shabwa, on December 24, 2009, but the working assumption now is that he survived.[92] Pravda reported that Yemeni planes, using Saudi Arabian and US intelligence aid, killed at least 30 Al Qaeda members from Yemen and abroad, and that an al-Awlaki house was "raided and demolished". ABC News reported the dead may include Naser Abdel Karim al-Wahishi (the region's al-Qaeda leader), Saeed al-Shehri (the region's No. 2 al-Qaeda leader), and al-Awlaki.[93] On December 28 The Washington Post reported that US and Yemeni officials said that al-Awlaki was at the meeting of senior al-Qaeda leaders that was attacked, but his fate was still unknown.[94] Al-Awlaki's relatives did not believe he was among those killed, however.[95]

According to Abdul Elah al-Shaya, a Yemeni journalist who said the former imam called him on December 28, 2009, and said that the claims of his death by the Yemeni government were "lies," al-Awlaki is alive and well. The journalist said that al-Awlaki informed the journalist that he had been home at the time of the bombing and did not attend the al-Qaeda meeting. Shaya insisted that al-Awlaki is not tied to Al Qaeda, and declined to comment as to whether al-Awlaki had told him about any contacts he may have had with Abdulmutallab. While it is not possible to confirm Shaya's account and he is of uncertain credibility, according to Gregory Johnsen, a Yemeni expert at Princeton University, he is generally reliable.[91] Yemen's Deputy Prime Minister for Defense and Security Affairs also said he believed al-Awlaki is alive.[96]

Works

The Nine Eleven Finding Answers Foundation says Al-Awlaki's ability to write and speak in straight-forward English enables him to be a key player in inciting English-speaking Muslims to commit terrorist acts.[21] As al-Awlaki himself wrote in 44 Ways to Support Jihad:

Most of the Jihad literature is available only in Arabic and publishers are not willing to take the risk of translating it. The only ones who are spending the time and money translating Jihad literature are the Western intelligence services ... and too bad, they would not be willing to share it with you.[21]

Written works

  • 44 Ways to Support Jihad—Essay (January 2009)—writes "The hatred of kuffar [non-Muslims] is a central element of our military creed," asserts that all Muslims must participate in Jihad in person, by funding it, or by writing. All Muslims must remain physically fit and train with firearms to be ready for the battlefield."[21][97]
  • Al-Awlaki has also written for Jihad Recollections, an English language online publication published by Al-Fursan Media, an apparent collaboration of online terrorist sympathizers.[98]

Lectures

References

  1. ^ Murphy, Dan (November 10, 2009). "Fort Hood shooting: Was Nidal Malik Hasan inspired by militant cleric?". Christian Science Monitor. Boston. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
  2. ^ a b "Imam in Fort Hood case born in New Mexico". United Press International. November 11, 2009. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
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