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Anwar Awlaki: Clear and Present Danger It's become a recurring theme over the past few months. A young man or woman ascribing to jihadist ideologies attempts (or plans) an attack against American interests, then a few days later it emerges that the jihadist was inspired heavily by American imam Anwar Awlaki. What is it about Awlaki that inspires this new generation of jihadists in the West to take up arms against their country? Even more frightening is the fact that those he inspires seem to be among the brightest and most promising. We've seen this with Major Nidal Hassan, a highly trained medical doctor with a specialization in psychiatry, who murdered 13 American men and women, his fellow servicemen and women, in a brutal attack at Fort Hood, Texas. We've seen it with five young American men, including one very promising Dental student, from the Washington DC metro area who dropped their lives in America to go embark on jihad in Pakistan. We've seen it with Umar Farouq Abu Mutallab, the young Nigerian from a life of privilege, who after living in the UK for many years travels to Yemen to receive jihadist training, and then attempts to blow up a crowded US airliner on Christmas day. And we've seen it again this week in the case of Faisal Shahzad. Shahzad, from a prominent and wealthy family in Pakistan, came to the US, received his Bachelor's degree and MBA, got married, and became a US citizen. He had a promising career as a financial analyst, a house in the suburbs, and two beautiful children. Yet last weekend he left an explosives-packed car in crowded Times Square, in an attempted attack against the United States. The common thread seems to be Anwar Awlaki. In Europe, elements of the Muslim community have been inspired by clerics such as Abu Hamza al Masri. But until recently, there didn't seem to be a figure that was able to motivate American's to jump on the jihadist bandwagon in the same way that their European counterparts were. That's not because Al Qaeda hasn't tried, most notably with Adam Gadahn, who regularly appears in Al Qaeda videos, attempting to incite American Muslims to take up arms against their country. Gadahn in many ways has been an abject failure as an Al Qaeda spokesperson. Sure, he gets the media attention every time he opens his mouth - after all, he is an American born in California, and the grandson of a prominent Jewish physician. But Gadahn's message has not resonated with young Americans, and he has failed to inspire anyone to do anything. Awlaki seems to provide Al Qaeda with something is has been missing in Al Qaeda's propaganda. To a new generation of American jihadists, he is "one of them". Osama bin Laden, although respected and revered by many of these young men and women, is seen as being from a different generation. Awlaki, although thirty-none years old, appears much younger in his videos. He is on the internet with a blog and a website, and he answers emails. Awlaki, like many of the young men and women he inspired, was born in America to immigrant parents. He speaks to his followers in English, with Arabic religious words interspersed in his dialog. He's young, educated, charismatic, well-spoken, and is someone with whom these young men and women can relate. He preaches a doctrine that incites them to take up arms against the societies and cultures that have provided them with a comfortable lifestyle, a good education, and a life of privilege. And he is successful. The Obama administration has responded to this threat by authorizing his targeted killing. After all, he is in Yemen, for all practical purposes out of the reach of the American judicial system. The "Catch-22" is this: silencing Awlaki won't silence his message. The death of Awlaki at the hands of the US very likely will not make the US a safer place. Instead, Awlaki's message will continue to spread via the internet, and conferring martyrdom status on him is likely to inspire a new wave of attacks. As long as Anwar Awlaki continues to spread his message of hatred via the internet, we will continue to see young men and women attempt horrific acts of terror in this country, attempting to murder their fellow countrymen. Faisal Shahzad and his attempted terror attack on Times Square isn't the last we've heard of Anwar Awlaki. |
