U.S.-Born Yemen-Based Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki on His CA-Hosted Website: Fort Hood Shooter 'Nidal Hassan Is A Hero'

On October 21, 2009, MEMRI published two reports on U.S.-born imam Anwar Al-Awlaki: Special Dispatch No. 2610, "U.S.-Born Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki on the State of Jihad Eight Years After 9/11: The U.S. Cannot Win - There is No Rolling Back the Worldwide Jihad" and Al-Awlaki's article "44 Ways of Supporting Jihad," on the MEMRI Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor. Following the November 5, 2009 shooting at Fort Hood army base in Texas, in which Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of killing 13 and wounding 29, the connection between Hasan and Al-Awlaki came to light; Hasan's family attended the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, VA, where Al-Awlaki was preaching in 2001, and Hasan, according to a Fort Hood acquaintance, was an admirer of Al-Awlaki and expressed "deep respect" for his teachings. In addition, the FBI has linked the mosque to two of the 9/11 hijackers. On November 9, Al-Awlaki published an article on his website Anwar-alawlaki.com, in which he called Hasan a "hero" and "a man of conscience who could not bear living the contradiction of being a Muslim and serving in an army that is fighting against his own people." ...