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In an interview soon after, Awlaki admitted exchanging e-mails with Hasan but still denied encouraging him to commit violence.47

Awlaki’s peculiar lack of commitment in his public discourse might have been born out of his morbid obsession with imprisonment. He seemed to lack the courage of his convictions, at least when he was in the public eye, but his wall of evasion was crumbling fast.

A few months earlier, a young Nigerian Muslim named Omar Abdulmutallab had made his way to Yemen and joined a training camp run by the local terrorist franchise al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Mutallab was trained for a suicide operation: the detonation of a bomb smuggled onto a U.S bound airliner. He made his attempt on December 25, 2009—Christmas Day—but failed when the bomb, which he had hidden in his underwear, merely caught fire, severely burning his genitals. One of his trainers, he told the FBI after his arrest, was Anwar Awlaki, who had explicitly directed him to carry out the attack.48

Fueled by the two attacks in close proximity, coverage of Awlaki exploded. A Nexis search showed seven stories mentioning Anwar Awlaki in major newspapers during 2007. In 2008 there were five stories. In 2009 there were 651 stories, almost all of which were published in November and December. In the first six months of 2010, there were 948, in addition to countless television and Internet stories.

The coverage took on an increasingly hysterical tone. Dozens of reports characterized Awlaki as “the next Osama bin Laden” and one of the most serious threats to the United States in years.49 In late 2009 the Obama administration put Awlaki on a list of high-value targets, authorizing U.S. covert operations to capture or kill the American citizen.50

In March 2010, perhaps realizing he had nothing left to lose, Awlaki finally pulled the trigger. An audio message released to jihadist Internet forums positioned him squarely on the side of terrorism—while he continued to deny his connection to any previous attack. The speech was masterful and remarkably attuned to an American audience, invoking an almost Reaganesque sense of nostalgia before lowering the boom.

To the American people I say: Do you remember the good old days, when Americans were enjoying the blessings of security and peace? When the word “terrorism” was rarely invoked? And when you were oblivious to any threats?

I remember a time when you could purchase an airline ticket from the classified section of your local or college newspaper, and use it, even though it was issued to a different name, because no one would bother asking you for an ID before boarding a plane. No long lines, no elaborate searches, no body scans, no sniffing dogs, no taking off your shoes and emptying your pockets. You were a nation at ease.

But America thought that it could threaten the lives of others, kill and invade, occupy and plunder, and conspire, without bearing the consequences of its actions. 9/11 was the answer of the millions of people who suffer from American aggression. And since then, America has not been safe.51

Awlaki mocked America’s inability to defeat the “mujahideen” of al Qaeda and celebrated Nidal Hasan and Omar Abdulmutallab, characterizing the latter’s failure to accomplish his mission as a success because he almost succeeded. Awlaki laid out a “defensive” rationale for the actions of al Qaeda as a response to U.S. “aggression,” citing Guantanamo Bay and the abuse of captives by U.S. soldiers at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison. He stated that al Qaeda’s goal was to establish Islam “over all other” religions. Finally, he pointed the way forward.

I for one, was born in the US, I lived in the US for twenty-one years. America was my home. I was a preacher for Islam, involved in non-violent Islamic activism. However, with the American invasion of Iraq, and continued US aggression against Muslims, I could not reconcile between living in the US and being a Muslim, and I eventually came to the conclusion that Jihad against America is binding upon myself, just as it