powderman My Friend
Lets sit and watch what the special ones say about this one
Tommyt
Awlaki Video
Urges Muslims to Kill AmericansBy ROBERT F. WORTH
Published: November 8, 2010
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CloseLinkedinDiggMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink BEIRUT, Lebanon — The radical, American-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, called for Muslims around the world to kill Americans and overthrow Arab leaders in a video posted Monday on the Internet.
Mr. Awlaki, who is now thought to be hiding in southern Yemen, has called for violence against Americans before, and his sermons appear to have played a role in a number of terrorist plots. American officials believe he plays an active part in Al Qaeda’s regional branch, which took credit on Friday for the attempt late last month to send explosives by courier to the United States.
In the new 23-minute video, Mr. Awlaki appears at a desk wearing traditional Yemeni garb, including a ceremonial dagger, and says, speaking in Arabic, that no special clerical ruling is required to kill Americans.
“Don’t consult with anyone in fighting the Americans, fighting the devil doesn’t require consultation or prayers or seeking divine guidance,” Mr. Awlaki says. “They are the party of the devils.”
Mr. Awlaki also inveighs against Arab leaders who cooperate with the West, in a style that is common in jihadist sermons. He called on religious scholars to declare these leaders infidels — which would make them legitimate targets for assassination.
“Kings, emirs and presidents are now not qualified to lead the nation, or even a flock of sheep,” he says. “If the leaders are corrupt, the religious scholars have the responsibility to lead the nation.”
The video appears to pre-date the mail freight plot; parts of it were released on Oct. 23.
On Saturday, a Yemeni judge called for Mr. Awlaki’s arrest, a few days after he failed to show up at a trial where he was accused in absentia in a plot to kill foreigners.
Yemen has been under strong American pressure to do something about Mr. Awlaki, particularly since the discovery of the mail freight plot. The cleric, born in New Mexico, has spent much of his life in the United States, and returned to Yemen in 2006. It is not clear exactly when his views — once moderate — hardened into a militant anti-Americanism. American officials believe his eloquent sermons play an important role in recruiting jihadists around the world, and last year they took the unusual step of authorizing his targeted killing.
Mr. Awlaki has been linked to Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in Fort Hood, Tx., last year, and to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner on Dec. 25.
Mr. Awlaki belongs to the large and powerful Awlak tribe. Leaders of the tribe have said the government is welcome to arrest him, but some fellow tribesmen appear to be sheltering him in Shabwa province, the tribe’s heartland in southern Yemen.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/world/middleeast/09awlaki.html?_r=1