The making of an American terrorist

How Anwar al-Awlaki, a Web-savvy U.S.-born cleric, emerged as possibly the world’s most dangerous jihadist

Al-Awlaki.
(Image credit: Vimeo.com)

IN THE WEEKS after the Sept. 11 attacks, the eloquent 30-year-old imam of a mosque outside Washington, D.C., became a go-to Muslim cleric for reporters scrambling to explain Islam. He condemned the mass murder, invited television crews to follow him around, and patiently explained the rituals of his religion. “We came here to build, not to destroy,” the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, said in a sermon. “We are the bridge between Americans and 1 billion Muslims worldwide.”

At first glance, it seemed plausible that this lanky, ambitious man, with the scholarly wire-rims and equal command of English and Arabic, could indeed be such a bridge. CD sets of his engaging lectures on the Prophet Mohammed were in thousands of Muslim homes. American-born, he had a sense of humor, and dropped references to “Joe Sixpack” into his sermons; a few weeks before the attacks he had preached in the U.S. Capitol.

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