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Source: Reuters -
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A US-born radical cleric linked to shootings at a US army base
and the failed bombing of a US plane appeared to urge Muslims to
conduct a jihad against the United States in an audiotape
heard.
US counterterrorism officials said in late February they were
considering adding Anwar al-Awlaki to the US target list to kill or
capture top militants if he appeared to pose a direct security
threat.
He is believed to be living in southern Yemen.
"To the Muslims in America, I have this to say: How can your
conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation
that is responsible for the tyranny and crimes committed against
your own brothers and sisters?" the audiotape said.
CNN, which said on its website it had obtained the tape
exclusively, said it could not authenticate the recording but cited
sources saying they believe the voice on the tape is his.
It also outlines Awlaki's own path to radicalism, is his.
"I eventually came to the conclusion that jihad (holy struggle)
against America is binding upon myself just as it is binding upon
every other able Muslim," Awlaki said on the tape, clips of which
were posted on CNN's website.
Awlaki was reported as saying early in February he had taught the
Nigerian suspect in the December 25 attempted bombing of a US-bound
plane and supported his actions but had not ordered the
attack.
US officials say Awlaki also had links to a US Army psychiatrist
who killed 13 people at a Texas base in November.
Western allies and neighbouring Saudi Arabia fear al Qaeda is
exploiting instability in impoverished Yemen to recruit and train
militants for attacks in the region and beyond.
Air strikes
Awlaki, a US citizen of Yemeni descent, returned to Yemen in 2004
where he taught at a university before he was arrested in 2006 for
suspected links to al Qaeda and involvement in attacks.
He was released in 2007 because he said he had repented, a Yemeni security official said.
But he was later charged again and went into hiding.
In December, a Yemeni security official said Awlaki may have been
one of 30 militants including top two leaders of al Qaeda's Yemen
arm killed in an air raid in Shabwa province in southeast
Yemen.
He later resurfaced.
In January, a local government source in Shabwa said officials
were in talks with tribal sheikhs to try to persuade him to
surrender, or be taken by force.
In late February, US counterterrorism officials said US spy
agencies believed Awlaki to have played a bigger role than first
thought in al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's decision to start
launching attacks against US targets.
Born in New Mexico in the United States in 1971, Awlaki graduated
in civil engineering from Colorado State University.
His family is well-known in Yemen, where his father was a former
agriculture minister.
Awlaki is also a former imam of mosques in Denver, San Diego and
Falls Church, Virginia.
Two of those mosques were attended by some of the September 11,
2001 hijackers.
"I lived in the US for 21 years," the tape said.
"America was my home. I was a preacher of Islam involved in non-violent Islamic activism. However with the American invasion of Iraq and continued US aggression against Muslims, I could not reconcile between living in the US and being a Muslim."
