Al-Qaida in Yemen defends radical U.S-born cleric

[Robb]

Source: AP

CAIRO — The leader of an al-Qaida offshoot in Yemen vowed Sunday to protect a U.S.-born Muslim cleric who has been placed on a CIA list of targets to be captured of killed.

In a 10-minute audiotape posted on militant websites, the commander of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Baseer al-Wahishi, praised Anwar al-Awlaki as "an example to the Islamic nation" and said "we will never surrender him to the infidels."

(snip)

Al-Awlaki's growing involvement in planning and operations by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula has prompted the Obama administration to place him on a target list for terrorists to be killed or captured, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss intelligence matters.

But al-Wahishi pledged in his audiotape to defend al-Awlaki, saying that "no harm" will come to the cleric "as long as there is a pulse in our veins, whether the American accusations prove true or not because jihad (holy war) is not a crime."

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Al-Wahishi must be feeling the funding pinch to issue this kind of cry for help. Sort of like Hizbul Islam inviting Bin Laden to come live in Somalia. :eyes:

[leveymg]

1. al-Awaki has been a point of contact for the Flt 77 hijackers, the Ft Hood shooter, the Xmas bomber,

the Times Square Bomber and hundreds of others. He's a one-man homing beacon. Why kill Emanuel Goldstein or Bust The Trust?