Yemeni cleric sanctions violence against Americans

CAIRO - A U.S.-born radical cleric who belongs to the al-Qaida offshoot behind the cargo bomb plot on the United States told Muslims in a video posted on extremist websites yesterday that they are free to kill American "devils" at will.

Anwar al-Awlaki's vitriolic sermons have inspired several attacks against the United States, and Yemeni officials say he may have given his blessing to the mail bomb plot even if he did not take an active part in it. The al-Qaida branch in Yemen, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, claimed responsibility for the foiled bomb plot.

In past messages, al-Awlaki, 39, has justified killing American civilians as retaliation for the killing of thousands of Muslim civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. But this appeared to be an escalation, with the cleric arguing that no rationale was needed to seek out and kill Americans.

"Don't consult with anybody in killing the Americans," al-Awlaki said in the 23-minute video, in which he appeared dressed in a robe and turban, with a dagger tucked into his waistband.

"Fighting the devil does not require a fatwa, nor consultation nor prayers seeking divine guidance. They are the party of Satan and fighting them is the obligation of the time," he said.

In the video, al-Awlaki accused the United States of pouring money into Yemen to encourage Yemenis to shun their religion.

"There is an American policy presented to the Yemeni government, funded by the West, for the people of this country to alienate them from their religion," said al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico of Yemeni parents.

U.S. intelligence has linked al-Awlaki to the 9/11 hijackers and to last year's failed Christmas Day bombing of a jetliner over Detroit. He also has ties to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in November at the Fort Hood military base. - AP