Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians

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Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians

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By Maamoun Youssef, The Associated Press

CAIRO - An American-Yemeni cleric whose Internet sermons are believed to have

helped inspire attacks on the U.S. has advocated the killing of American

civilians in an al-Qaida video released Sunday.

Anwar al-Awlaki has been singled out by U.S. officials as a key terrorist threat

and has been added to the CIA's list of targets for assassination despite his

American citizenship. He is of particular concern because he is one of the few

English-speaking radical clerics able to explain to young Muslims in America and

other Western countries the philosophy of violent jihad.

The U.S.-born al-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004 and is in hiding there after

being linked to the suspects in the November shooting at an Army base in Fort

Hood, Texas, and the December attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner bound for

Detroit.

" Those who might be killed in a plane are merely a drop of water in a sea, " he

said in the video in response to a question about Muslim groups that disapproved

of the airliner plot because it targeted civilians.

Al-Awlaki used the 45-minute video to justify civilian deaths — and encourage

them — by accusing the United States of intentionally killing a million Muslim

civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

American civilians are to blame, he said, because " the American people, in

general, are taking part in this and they elected this administration and they

are financing the war. "

He added that the Prophet Muhammad also sent forces into battles that claimed

civilian lives.

The video was produced by the media arm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula,

though the exact nature of al-Awlaki's ties with the group and possible direct

role in it are unclear. The U.S. says he is an active participant in the group,

though members of his tribe have denied that.

For its part, al-Qaida appears to be trying to make use of his recruiting power

by putting him in its videos. Its media arm said Sunday's video was its first

interview with the cleric.

In the months before the Fort Hood shooting, which killed 13 people, al-Awlaki

exchanged emails with the alleged attacker, U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan

initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki's Internet sermons, and approached

him for religious advice.

Yemen's government says al-Awlaki is also suspected of contacts with Umar Farouk

Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused in the failed attempt to blow up the

Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab travelled to Yemen late

last year, and U.S. investigators say he told them that he received training and

his bomb from Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot.

In Sunday's video, al-Awlaki praised both men and referred to them as his

" students. "

Speaking of Hasan, the cleric said, " What he did was heroic and great. ... I ask

every Muslim serving in the U.S. Army to follow suit. "

Al-Awlaki appears in the video wearing a white Yemeni robe, turban and with a

traditional jambiyah dagger tucked into his waistband.

Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in New Mexico. His father, Nasser al-Awlaki, was in

the United States studying agriculture at the time and later returned with his

family to Yemen to serve as agriculture minister. The father remains a prominent

figure in Yemen, teaching at San'a University in the capital.

The younger al-Awlaki returned to the United States in 1991 to study civil

engineering at Colorado State University, then education at San Diego State

University, followed by doctoral work at Washington University in

Washington, D.C.

He was also a preacher at mosques in California and Virginia before returning to

Yemen in 2004.

" We have had more freedom in America than in any Muslim country, " he said in

Sunday's video. " But when America started to feel the danger of Islam's message,

it tightened limits on freedom, and after 9/11 it was impossible to live in

America as a Muslim. "

Al-Awlaki is believed to be hiding in Yemen's Shabwa province, the rugged region

of towering mountains that is home to his large tribe.

White House spokesman Gibbs said Sunday on CBS television that the U.S.

is " actively trying to find " al-Awlaki. He added that the Obama administration

will continue to take action directly against terrorists like al-Awlaki, and

keep the U.S. safe from what Gibbs calls " murderous thugs. "

Yemen, which has co-operated with the United States in battling al-Qaida, says

it is searching for the cleric.

Al-Awlaki said he was moving from place to place under the protection of his

tribe.

Accusing al-Awlaki of involvement in planning and operations by al-Qaida, the

Obama administration placed him on a target list of terrorists to be killed or

captured, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said last week. The official

spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.

" As for the Americans, I will never surrender to them, " he said. " If they want

me, they have to search for me and God is the one who decides my fate. "