In an interview for the Al-Jazeera website, the radical Yemeni-American cleric 'Anwar Al-'Awlaki acknowledged his ties with the would-be Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab. Al-'Awlaki calls Abdulmutallab "one of my students" and expressed support for his actions, laying out his reasons for justifying attacks on American civilians - though he said that he prefers attacks on military targets, and denied that he had given a fatwa authorizing the Christmas Day plot.
The interview was conducted by Abdelelah Shayie, the same journalist who interviewed Al-'Awlaki after the Fort Hood shootings, and who has in the past also interviewed the Emir of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. In a recent statement to the Saudi Al-Watan daily, Shayie described Al-'Awlaki as "a friend." ...
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