The headline is at odds with the text of the article — probably a typo — over whether Al-Awlaki was addressing Muslims in the U.S., or calling for Americans in general to convert to Islam.
In the latter event, such a call would not be surprising, because Muhammad required Muslims to invite an enemy to Islam before attacking (Sahih Muslim 19.4294).
But in either case, Al-Awlaki continues to operate and incite at will from within Yemen, the jihadist bus station.” “Al-Awlaki Calls for U.S. to Embrace Islam, Wage Jihad Against Government,” from the Yemen Post, July 19:
U.S.-born Yemeni cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki called for the U.S. Muslims Monday to embrace Islam and wage Jihad against their government.
Al-Awlaki, designated by the U.S. as a key leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula AQAP, said in a videotape Jihad, holy war, is an individual duty incumbent upon every Muslim.
In his letter distributed today, he addressed the U.S. Muslims saying: how your consciousness accepts to co-exist with a country that has committed crimes against your Muslim brothers and sisters.
How you declare your loyalty to a government waging a war on Islam and Muslims, he said, pointing out that the Muslim community in the U.S. is continuously violating the most basic Islamic principles, spying for the U.S. against Muslims.
I was a Muslim cleric and non-combatant activist, but after invading Iraq and with continuous U.S. attacks against Muslims, I can’t live and be a Muslim at the same time in the U.S., he said.
The U.S. is a cursed country because of its arrogance and illegal acts including carnage, invasions and occupation, he argued, adding that it will not be able to continue amid its draining wars.
Moreover, he hailed the botched bombing on a Detroit-bound passenger airplane in late 2009 by a Nigerian young man and the shooting at a Texas base by a U.S. doctor from Palestinian origin. The U.S. linked Al-Awlaki to the two attacks.
The U.S. froze last Friday the assets of Al-Awlaki on the ground he is a dangerous leader in the AQAP, sought to encourage his supporters to give money for terrorists and is involved in recruiting operatives.
Days after the move by the U.S. Treasury Department, Yemeni security sources said the hunt for Al-Awlaki and other Al-Qaeda suspects is continuing in Shabwa Province.
The sources said the forces aim to arrest and hand him to the Interior Ministry and judicial authorities in Yemen. They denied there were negotiations for extraditing Al-Awlaki to the United States which ordered this year to bring him dead or alive.
Al-Awlaki was jailed in Yemen in 2006 after he was charged with kidnapping for ransom and released in 2007.