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Or, 'Jewel of the Nile' Gone Rogue! Avner, Avner, Avner

Updated April 06, 2010

American-Born Cleric Reportedly Added to Capture-or-Kill Target List

FOXNews.com

The radical Muslim cleric tied to suspects in both the Fort Hood shooting and failed Christmas Day bombing reportedly has been added to a target list that would allow U.S. operatives to capture or kill him for his role with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.


Shown here is radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

The radical Muslim cleric tied to suspects in both the Fort Hood shooting and failed Christmas Day bombing reportedly has been added to a target list that would allow U.S. operatives to capture or kill him for his role with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Reuters reported Tuesday that the Obama administration has added Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen believed to be in Yemen, to the list following a National Security Council review.

"Awlaki is a proven threat," a U.S. official told the news service.

The cleric has been at the top of the U.S. intelligence radar screen for months.

Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., called him "terrorist number one" at an intelligence conference Tuesday.

"He ends up being a person that is not only an adviser to the Fort Hood shooter, was in the plot to have the Nigerian Christmas bomber blow up the plane over Detroit, but has literally in the past several weeks, and this has been in the press, called for attacks against the United States," she said.
She was referring to alleged contact the imam had with Maj. Nidal Hasan before the shooting rampage that left 13 dead at Fort Hood in Texas, and with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab before the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas last year.

The cleric could be heard acknowledging a relationship with Hasan in a recently released audiotape obtained by Fox News.

In the tape, he also mocked President Obama and praised Abdulmutallab.
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