A well-known extremist imam is praising the Ft. Hood massacre - and lashing out against most of America's Muslim community for not backing the shooter, as well.
In a blog post entitled "Nidal Hasan Did the Right Thing," Anwar Awlaki proclaims the Ft. Hood shooter a "hero" and a "man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people."
The endorsement comes comes amidst reports from ABC News that U.S. intelligence agencies were tracking Hasan's attempts "to make contact with people associated with al Qaeda." It's the latest evidence of Hasan's attraction to a radical ideology. But for now, it's unclear whether Hasan's rampage at Ft. Hood was spurred by his political views, personal psychological problems, or some combination of the two.
Hasan’s ties to Awlaki have come under scrutiny after investigators discovered that he had attended the Dar al-Hijra Mosque in Virginia while Awlaki was serving as an imam there.
Awlaki first came to the attention of authorities in 1999, when the FBI claims he had contact with Ziyad Khaleel, an alleged "procurement agent" for Osama Bin Laden.
Awlaki later surfaced in the 9/11 investigation when investigators discovered that hijackers Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi had developed a relationship with Awlaki at the Rabat Mosque in San Diego in 2000 and later visited the Dar al-Hijrah Mosque when Awlaki had become and imam there in 2001.
Awlaki left the United States for Britain in 2002, later moving to Yemen where we was arrested in 2006. Since his release in 2008, Awlaki has become a popular figure in Islamist circles online through his blog and occasional videoconference and taped appearances at events in the United Kingdom. His writings have included praise for al-Qaeda affiliated groups in Yemen and Somalia and support for suicide bombing. Among his more popular works is the instructional "44 Ways of Supporting Jihad," which speaks of a global conspiracy against Islam and provides financial, material and spiritual avenues to assist in "jihad." Awlaki's commentaries on Saudi al-Qaeda leader Yusuf al-Ayyiri's "Constants on the Path of Jihad," as this NEFA Foundation backgrounder makes clear, were praised by the convicted Ft. Dix plotters.
In his post on the Ft. Hood shootings, Awlaki mixes his praise for Hasan's actions with scorn for the evident patriotism of America's Muslim community, excoriating the "pitiful chorus" of American Arab and Muslim groups for the overwhelming number of published statements "condemning Nidal's operation."
UPDATE: In July 2006, the NEFA Foundation notes, American al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn, who told would-be jihadists "to go on a shooting spree at the Marines' housing facilities at Camp Pendleton."
UPDATE 2: Noah here, with a great point from Spencer Ackerman. So we have this data driftnet that spots a guy like Nidal Hasan reaching out to al-Qaeda. But it's not enough to stop him from killing 13 on an Army base. What good is all that spyware, then? Why bother letting our intelligence agencies play Big Brother, if they can't actually keep Americans safe?
[Photo: DoD]
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