[Yemen Post] In a new audio massage posted on Sunday on a websites linked to Jihadi organizations, Anwar Al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical Yemeni-American holy man urged Yemeni people and Haidar's tribes to support the journalist and Al-Qaeda expert, Abdu Elah Haidar, who lately was sentenced to five years in jail by a Yemeni Court after of being convicted of helping Al-Qaeda. He called for news hounds in Yemen and over the world to expose the alleged criminality of America.
| Clearly, this kind of thing is not Mr. Al-Awlaki's strong suit. The newshounds who would follow his direction are already lying about America, the others are not going to follow the direction of a terrorist apologist. |
Al-Awlaki in his audio massage criticized the Yemeni government for cooperating with the U.S. in strikes on locals and helping the U.S. bomb the people of Yemen.
He also warned media in the Islamic world against being used as a "tool for American occupation" and criticized the U.S. for oppressing Julian Assange, the founder of whistle-blowing website, Wikileaks.
| With friends like that, what need has Mr. Assange for enemies? |
Last week, the head of the National Counter-terrorism Center, Michael Leiter considered Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, with Al-Awlaki as a leader within that organization, the most significant risk to the U.S. homeland.
In January, a Yemeni court sentenced in absentia Al-Awlaki to ten years in prison for incitement to kill foreigners.
Al-Awlaki, thought to be hiding in Yemen, linked to the attempted terror attack on a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009, became the first U.S. citizen the CIA is authorized to kill. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, is on target lists maintained by the U.S. military and the CIA, meaning he is considered a legitimate target not only for a military strike by U.S. and Yemeni forces, but also for CIA operatives. Awlaki corresponded with Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 12 soldiers and one civilian at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009. |