The Washington Times appears to have confirmed what many of us have suspected immediately after the Christmas day airline bombing attempt failed and federal authorities detained Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab: radical, US born cleric Anwar al Awlaki had provided the religious justification for Abdulmutallab to conduct the attack:
The Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner had his suicide mission personally blessed in Yemen by Anwar al-Awlaki, the same Muslim imam suspected of radicalizing the Fort Hood shooting suspect, a U.S. intelligence source has told The Washington Times.
The intelligence official, who is familiar with the FBI’s interrogation of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, said the bombing suspect has boasted of his jihad training during interrogation by the FBI and has said it included final exhortations by Mr. al-Awlaki.
“It was Awlaki who indoctrinated him,” the official said. “He was told, ‘You are going to be the tip of the spear of the Muslim nation.'”
For more on Awlaki, see “Radical US cleric survived airstrike in Yemen: family” at The Long War Journal. He has a history of justifying attacks against US citizens.
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