He argues from several angles. One is to denigrate the status of American civilians as "innocent," which is noteworthy in light of the common apologist tactic of insisting Islam forbids the killing of "innocents," and leaving the audience to apply their own definition of the term. Another argument he offers is that, hey, civilian casualties happen. He says even Muhammad did it!
Gee, this guy must be some kind of right-wing, Zionist Islamophobe-- no, wait... "Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians," by Maamoun Youssef for the Associated Press, May 23:
CAIRO - An American-Yemeni cleric whose Internet sermons are believed to have helped inspire attacks on the U.S. has advocated the killing of American civilians in an al-Qaida video released Sunday.
Anwar al-Awlaki has been singled out by U.S. officials as a key terrorist threat and has been added to the CIA's list of targets for assassination despite his American citizenship. He is of particular concern because he is one of the few English-speaking radical clerics able to explain to young Muslims in America and other Western countries the philosophy of violent jihad.
The U.S.-born al-Awlaki moved to Yemen in 2004 and is in hiding there after being linked to the suspects in the November shooting at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas, and the December attempt to blow up a U.S. jetliner bound for Detroit.
"Those who might be killed in a plane are merely a drop of water in a sea," he said in the video in response to a question about Muslim groups that disapproved of the airliner plot because it targeted civilians.
Al-Awlaki used the 45-minute video to justify civilian deaths -- and encourage them -- by accusing the United States of intentionally killing a million Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
American civilians are to blame, he said, because "the American people, in general, are taking part in this and they elected this administration and they are financing the war."
He added that the Prophet Muhammad also sent forces into battles that claimed civilian lives.
Whose prophet? That said, this AP writer gets a "E" for "Effort" for actually using the term "jihad" above.
The video was produced by the media arm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, though the exact nature of al-Awlaki's ties with the group and possible direct role in it are unclear. The U.S. says he is an active participant in the group, though members of his tribe have denied that.
For its part, al-Qaida appears to be trying to make use of his recruiting power by putting him in its videos. Its media arm said Sunday's video was its first interview with the cleric.
In the months before the Fort Hood shooting, which killed 13 people, al-Awlaki exchanged e-mails with the alleged attacker, U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki's Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.
Yemen's government says al-Awlaki is also suspected of contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian accused in the failed attempt to blow up the Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day. Abdulmutallab traveled to Yemen late last year, and U.S. investigators say he told them that he received training and his bomb from Yemen's al-Qaida offshoot.
In Sunday's video, al-Awlaki praised both men and referred to them as his "students."
Speaking of Hasan, the cleric said, "What he did was heroic and great. ... I ask every Muslim serving in the U.S. Army to follow suit."...
While our lawyers delicately argue the legality of a wet job on Awlaki,a US citizen, terrorists kill and maim. Why can't they take a leaf from the Old West wanted posters and put out a "Dead or Alive" on this jerk?
How can this Islamic Muslim "Religion of Peace" really be peaceful? The Muslims advocate:
Children are taught from an early age to "Hate" Jews, Christians and anyone that is not of the faith whom they call an Infidel.
Female children have their genitalia mutilated even to death to keep them from having any pleasure in sexual intercourse once they are married. This is the Religion of Peace?
Women and children are raped and it is Allah's will. The woman is to blame for the rape not the man. What a load of crap!!!
Putting a bomb on your child or wife or daughter or sister or son is ok as long as the infidels are killed. This Religion of Peace is a crock of crap.
It's ok to beat or murder your wife or child or daughter if they disagree with you.
Mohammad was a pedophile and it is ok for other pedophiles to marry children and rape them at an early age.
There is no tolerance in Islam for other Religions or other societies. The Islamics convert at the point of the sword not by the preaching of Mohammad. This is not the Religion of Peace but the Religion of Satan. Most everything that Islamics believe is evil. There is no other Religion on the face of the earth that condones murder of your children and spouse.
Wife Of Drewbenstein
Awlaki is just another pious Mahoundians...one of many, he just happens to have the spotlight at the moment......It is interesting that the Rasool Obama regime protects Mahoundians at home, gives degenerates like SKM and buddies Constitutional rights, while he puts a hit contract out on an American citizen...The problem is that if Rasool can put a hit out on that American citizen, he can put a hit out on any American citizen...What happened to the due process clause of the Constitution in Awlaki's case...he has been found guilty and sentenced to death, not by a jury of his peers, but by one man...Rasool Obama...
I am no fan of Awlaki's, but I am no fan of Rasool Obama either...Both are up to no good in my estimation...
I posted this on a previous thread -
Hey People: "Yemeni cleric advocates killing US civilians"
The esteemed (sarc on) U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ml_yemen_radical_cleric
And this. On "The Obama Administration's benign neglect of Christians..." thread:
Anwar al-Awlaki says in the video (see link in my above post):
"Speaking of Hasan [the Ft. Hood Jihadist] the cleric said, "What he did was heroic and great. ... I ask every Muslim serving in the U.S. Army to follow suit."
Mass-Murder of innocent people is "heroic and great." Can someone rid us of this evil human, poisoned by evil Islam?
"He added that the Prophet Muhammad also sent forces into battles that claimed civilian lives.
Whose prophet?"
Quite, yet that ever so 'umble, Uriah Heap of the broadcasting world, our very own BBC insists on the grovelling appellation each and every time that old roguish pederast's name is used.
Why? They're barely Christians or Jews and certainly not Muslims so why the honorific?
Ah, they tell us it's about 'respect' yet what respect does Jeremy Bowen show to Israeli's as he presents his one sided Hamas worshipping views to a gullible public.
Or, still on the subject, when comedian Frankie Boyle suggested that the Queen was so old, her 'fanny must be haunted'.
Or Jonathan Ross, phoning the aged actor who once played Manuel in Fawlty Towers, to inform him on answer machine that he'd f*cked his daughter the night before? Then went on, as to the merits of the activity.
I think you get the picture. 'Respect' is a moveable feast in the eyes of these people.
If you're white, heterosexual and possessed of a full set of working limbs forget it.
However if you happen to be in the category of 'those who must be obeyed' i.e. non of that lot and in particular, happen to belong to the cult of 'those who must be obeyed or we'll cut your effing head off', the obeisance is part of the mission statement.
Welcome to our world folks. I can't say ' come on in, the water's great', mainly because it's not.
Extra strong chlorine needed, I feel.
It is a religion of SUBMISSION not peace.
1. Rape of innocents - dedicated to a god.
2. Murder of those not in the clan - dedicated to a god.
3. Beating, possibly unto death, of those in the clan that oppose - dedicated to a god.
4. Women as property - dedicated to a god.
5. Torture with boiling water (or modern acid) - dedicated to a god.
6. Stealing holy sites by claiming something significant happened to your religion there, too - dedicated to god.
We have never seen a group of worshipers of Molech or how the Canaanite tribes behaved. We have never seen how warlords and primitive people ruled the deserts in ancient times.
We read in the Bible of how kings like David resisted becoming cruel but many fault him because he was a fierce warrior for God against Molech worshipers and Canaanites. Compared to the above list of modern perils he still seems like a philanthropist.
The danger we face now is not the approaching hoard but the blindness of our leaders that want us to ignore it, to wait until the rabble has fallen upon us and it cannot be denied anymore... then they will blame us, or poverty.
Because the truth does not fit into the world view that our leaders want to believe in they pretend it is not happening. And they accuse us of being weak for following Jesus. They say it is all fairy tales.
It is clear who is really weak and it is certain what the fairy tale really is.
Dummycrats whistling past the graveyard.
These are ungrateful people, as Mohmmad taught them to be. Send them to Pluto.
These are ungrateful people, as Mohmmad taught them to be. Send them to Pluto.
Well, the feeling is mutual.
============
I would like to know how the hell AP knows that Al Wacky has been added to the CIA's list of targets for assassination.
Was there a freakin' press release or something?
Either there's somebody holding down a job at CIA who's supposed to be unemployed and/or in jail, or else we're being lied to ... again.
I agree with Wife Of Drewbenstein & Musing. Islam means SUBMISSION, not PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!