The Nigerian suspect in a failed Christmas Day airliner bombing turned against the cleric who claims to be his teacher and has helped the U.S. hunt for the radical preacher, a law enforcement official said Thursday.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old Nigerian who faces terrorism charges in the Christmas bombing, has been cooperating with the FBI for days, providing information about his contacts in Yemen and the al-Qaeda affiliate that operates there.
His cooperation against U.S.-born Yemeni radical Anwar al-Awlaki is significant because it could provide fresh clues for authorities trying to capture or kill him in the remote mountains of Yemen. Al-Awlaki has emerged has a prominent al-Qaeda recruiter and has been tied to the 9/11 hijackers, Abdulmutallab and the suspect in November's deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.
via Official: Christmas Day suspect gives information on Yemen radical – USATODAY.com.
Radical preacher says Detroit bomber was his student
A radical cleric has said the Nigerian man accused of the failed Christmas Day attack on an aircraft over Detroit was his student but he didn’t tell him to carry out the bombing.
Anwar al-Awlaki, the US born cleric who has spent time in Britain, is believed to be hiding out in a remote area of Yemen and is said to have links to al-Qaeda.
In an interview with a Yemeni journalist, carried on the website of the TV station al-Jazeera, Awlaki said: “Brother mujahed [holy fighter] Umar Farouk — may God relieve him — is one of my students, yes.
“We had kept in contact, but I didn’t issue a fatwa [religious ruling] to Umar Farouk for this operation.”
Awlaki said he supported the attack in which Abdulmutallab tried to detonate a homemade bomb in his underwear, but it would have been better if the target was a military one.
“I support what Umar Farouk did after seeing my brothers in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan being killed,” he told the interviewer.
“If it was a military plane or a US military target it would have been better…(but) the American people have participated in all the crimes of their government.
“Some 300 Americans are nothing compared to thousands Muslims they have killed.”
Awlaki is thought to be involved in recruiting new members for al-Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP).
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The FBI should have questioned this terrorist immediately. The information he is giving now, is old – al-Awlaki, I’m sure knows we are looking for him, and would have moved by now. This present administration, needs to be much more pro-active and reactive, instead of worrying so much about political correctness. President Obama should really sit down and take some security advice from the Israeli’s. They know how to handle these situations.
It doesn’t appear possible to stop Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations from recruiting terrorists in America, if U.S. Government is constrained from arresting extremists in our Homeland that advocate ideologies, understood by followers to condone killing Americans. In the U.S. when someone advocates a terrorist ideology (understood) by his or her followers to cause harm to Americans, should that “Advocator” be protected by Free Speech? Or should that “Advocator” be charged with facilitating terrorism? Despite Advocators disseminating ideologies that inspire or condone murder of U.S. Citizens, some Americans allege Protected Speech prevents U.S. Government arresting “Advocators” because they spoke about an ideology not murder. If Al-Qaeda terrorist recruitment is going to be stopped in America, U.S. Government must have the power to arrest “terrorist Advocators” in the U.S. before they can inspire catastrophic damage.