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Anwar al-Awlaki is a radicalized imam who was born in the US but who is now living in Yemen and who has made a name for himself as a sympathizer to Al Qaeda and violent extremism. He was one of the staff imams at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Virginia back in 2001, and it seems that three of the 9-11 hijackers attended his services. It seems now that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was also a fan of al-Awlaki's teachings and attended some of his sermons - and al-Awlaki has now seized upon the actions of Hasan to pay homage to and glorify the Fort Hood attacks. This comes on the heels of news that Hasan reportedly tried to contact Al Qaeda.

What is there to say about al Awlaki? Though once a mainstream, moderate Imam, today he's a radical extremist islamist. On his website, he calls all muslims who have condemned Hasan's attack at Fort Hood "traitors to Islam" - I guess he's talking about me, and frankly I am proud to be labeled a traitor by the likes of scum such as he.

Al Awlaki is far outside the mainstream of the muslim American community. The Dar al Hijrah center has completely repudiated al Awlaki's statements and disavowed any relationship to him - here is their statement:

VA. MOSQUE REPUDIATES PRAISE FOR FORT HOOD KILLINGS - TOP

(FALLS CHURCH, VA., 11/9/09) - Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., today repudiated hate-filled statements made by a former imam who praised the recent killings at Fort Hood in Texas.

In its statement, the mosque said:

"As we understand the teaching of the scriptures, our mission and method as Americans of faith is to enrich our society with service, wisdom and beautiful preaching of God's love and mercy to all of mankind.

"We openly denounce the statement of Mr. Al-Awlaki as posted on his website. During Mr. Al-Awlaki's short employment at our center, his public speech was consistent with the values of tolerance and cooperation. After returning to Yemen, Mr. Awlaki now claims that the American Muslims who have condemned the violent acts of Major Hasan have 'committed treason against the Muslim Umaah [community] and have fallen into hypocrisy.'

"With this reversal, Mr. Al-Awlaki has clearly set himself apart from Muslims in America. We continue to send our condolences and prayers for recovery of all the victims of this godless act."

Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is one the largest and diverse Islamic Centers in the nation. We are committed to service the community as a place of worship, education and social service. Learn more at www.hijrah.org.

CONTACT: Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, Director of Outreach, (202) 345-5233

Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center
3159 Row Street NW
Falls Church, VA 22044
Tel: (703) 536-1030
Fax: (202) 536-1035
URL: http://www.hijrah.org
Email: dardirector@hijrah.org

Al Awlaki's ideology is well beyond the bounds of even the most conservative muslim groups - for example, here is a two-part video refutation of al Awlaki's ideologies by salafi muslims:

Part 1 -

Part 2 -

Lots more information about Anwar al-Awlaki and Nidal Malik Hasan at Talk Islam, in addition to the ongoing Fort Hood attacks coverage.

MAJOR UPDATE: news outlets are reporting that the shooter is not dead as previously reported, but alive and in custody. This means we may indeed get some answers... and justice.

MAJOR UPDATE 2 - Hasan is reportedly conscious.

Who is Major Malik Nadal Hasan?

A few hours ago, Major Hasan allegedly opened fire at Fort Hood, killing 11 people and injuring 31. The local law enforcement responded immediately and killed Hasan, as well as taking two other possible accomplices into custody (UPDATE: the two other suspects have now been released, so it looks like this was indeed the act of Hasan alone).

There simply is no information yet about what Hasan's motives were, or whether Hasan is indeed muslim or not. Of course, that last bit of information is the one that everyone will want to know about the most, even though in a fundamental sense it matters the least.

Major Hasan was also a trained psychiatrist and was previously working at Walter Reed Medical Hospital. The fact he held rank and had a stable military career prior to the event, suggests to me that a very recent psychological problem or trauma (PTSD?) may be an underlying cause. We just don't know.

However, something disquieting about the date... It should be noted (as others like Ali Eteraz already have) that today is Guy Fawkes Day - the anniversary of a plot by a Catholic dissident to blow up the English Parliament then dominated by Protestants). If the shootings were motivated by some sense of grievance against US foreign/military policy, then the date is surely significant.

(UPDATE - just to be clear, I am not "blaming Catholics" for the shooting. I was asking if Hasan's twisted rationale included some kind of anarchist element. I wondered if he was invoking religious grievances and striking out at who he perceived to be the oppressors of his faith. Guy Fawkes is often mythologized as a hero who took a stand against tyranny. The analogy to Hasan's potential motivations, especially if he fancied himself as acting on behalf of Islam, should be clear).

It should also be noted that this is the second shooting at Fort Hood in about a year. The significance of this fact, also, is uncertain.

Right now, there's nothing to do but wait for what information there is to be revealed. But it's frustrating, as an american, and as a muslim. All we can do is pray for the victims and their families.

There's no better source for following the Fort Hood story than Talk Islam, where the updates are rolling in. You can subscribe directly to the RSS feed for coverage of the incident at Talk Islam, as well.

UPDATE: The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has already issued a press release condemning the attack. What they should have also mentioned was that muslim Americans have served in the US Armed Forces with distinction and honor - such as Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2007.

U.S. Muslims Condemn Attack at Fort Hood CAIR calls shootings cowardly and inexcusable (WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/5/09) - A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy group tonight condemned an attack on Fort Hood military base in Texas that left at least 12 people dead. In a statement, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said: "We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law. No religious or political ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured." Along with innumerable condemnations of terror, CAIR has in the past launched an online anti-terror petition drive called "Not in the Name of Islam," initiated a television public service announcement (PSA) campaign against religious extremism and coordinated a "fatwa," or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism. SEE: CAIR's Anti-Terrorism Campaigns CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. - END - CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787 or 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

This is deeply disturbing to me:

Quotations from Quran start appearing on the body of a 9-month boy named Ali from Kizlyar, Dagestan, his parents claim.

Birthmarks in form of Arabic scripts have been appearing on the baby's body since his birth. First, there were individual letters, then texts and, according to local imams, these are texts from the Quran, the Vesti TV has reported on Thursday.

Thus, one of the baby's legs has an inscription, "Allah is the creator of all things."

"First, there was a hematoma on his chin. When the bruise went off, we saw the word "Allah," Ali's mother Madina Yakubova said.

Words similar to birthmarks show up on his shank and ankle usually on Monday and Friday and then disappear.

When new inscriptions are appearing, Ali doesn't sleep all night long and has high temperature and even strong drugs cannot send it off.

The picture is horrific because the Qur'an phrases are so detailed and legible. I can't see this being anything other than a case of child abuse. I can't imagine what drives these parents to do something like this to their child - the discussion at Talk Islam suggested "Munchausen Syndrome", but what concerns me more is how they are actually marking the baby. It looks like bruises to me.

This case is horrible and seems akin to the recent "faith healing" case in central Wisconsin where the parents let their child die from untreated diabetes. Religious convictions are important but harming your children as proxy for proving how devout you are is monstrous and about the furthest thing from genuine piety you can imagine.

No, Iraq is not a "success" -

Three homemade bombs exploded without warning in the midst of crowds who had stopped to gather for evening prayers Wednesday in southern Iraq's Shiite holy city of Karbala, and the police and government officials said at least six people were killed and 45 wounded.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the explosions, which happened within minutes of each other at a shopping center, near a police checkpoint and inside a parking garage. All were located near the Husseni and Abbas shrines in Karbala, about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

The blasts struck areas crowded with people, but outside the security cordon that surrounds the shrines, said Amal al-Dheen al-Hir, governor of Karbala province.

Bombs targeting Shi'a in Karbala are nothing new, but this recent attack is of personal significance since many members of my own Dawoodi Bohra community are in Iraq attending the inauguration of the new masjid at Kufa, including members of my immediate family. A few years ago, one of my closest friends lost his father, also on pilgrimage to Karbala.

I am hearing from second-hand sources that none of our pilgrims were injured but am still waiting to hear from my family. This makes me angry, though - and more determined than ever to go to Karbala myself, sooner than later.

Earlier, I posted my thoughts about whether terrorism was still a threat, noting that in one sense the answer was obviously yes, but asking whether 9-11 was the outlier it seemed to be. My post was intended to provoke a discussion, and the best response was by Dave Schuler, reproduced here in full:

The question reminds me of the story of the guy who jumped off the Empire State Building. As he passed the 30th floor, someone yelled to him "How are you doing?" to which he responded "So far, so good."

Of course 9/11 is an outlier. Unfortunately, from a political standpoint that's irrelevant. Any resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will necessarily respond to such an event (my view is that President Gore would have done virtually everything that President George W. Bush did , including invading Iraq, but I seem to be an outlier in that belief).

Yes, terrorism is a threat. As I pointed out in my memorial post, we haven't really responded prudently to the threat yet. In my view there are only two prudent responses: interrupt one of the critical success factors for the attacks on 9/11 or decide we'd rather live with the risk.

"Guys with a grievance", the factor most frequently referred to including in this comment threat, isn't one of the critical success factors.

I don't disagree with Dave. However, I think the response "of course 9-11 is an outlier" is only true depending on how you define "outlier". I agree that 9-11 is an obvious outlier in terms of scale, but was that just luck? if any number of things in the 9-11 plot had gone awry, the best they might have achieved would be a multiple of Flight 93. As Dave notes, these amount to "critical success factors" but interupting them is easy in hindsight knowledge of the plot.

Its possible that there are other similar casualty-amplifying plots out there which also have critical success factors, but for which we lack the benefit of hindsight to interrupt. Ironically, the success of such future plots is probably much lower due to 9-11's success, since 9-11 being so "out of the box" has changed our own security approach to compensate. So 9-11 might well be a one-shot, as long as we continue to be proactive in imagining how our technology can be used against us. I agree there is always going to be some residual risk of a mass casualty attack on the same scale, using a method we havent yet predicted or are able to anticipate.

The trade-off between that residual risk, and our basic liberties, is one that polarizes our modern political discourse. I agree with Dave that President Gore might well have taken many of the same actions as President Bush (though it's certain he would have acted less unilaterally in invading Iraq). Had that been the case, perhaps it would be liberals who now advocate aggressive interrogations and unilateral executive authority, and conservatives defending the liberty side of the security vs liberty equation. As things stand today, however, conservatives betray their heritage by favoring less liberty and more security, rallying behind fmr Vice President Cheney's self-serving insistence that the Obama Administration is making the country less safe.

(for the record, Attorney General Holder's decision to launch a very limited, initial investigation into torture of detainees was an agonizing and painful one undertaken at Holder's own conscience, and actually in defiance of Obama's preference. Obama would rather "look forward" but the Attorney General has the freedom to act as he thinks best.)

But in terms of who carried out the attacks, their motivations, their grievances, etc whether or not 9-11 was an outlier is a different question. If 9-11 was indeed no outlier by these standards (as few would disagree), then why do we need an explicit "war on terror" at all? A combination of heightened security at sensitive points (mass transit, government buildings, landmarks) and good old-fashioned investigative police work and traditional (lawful) interrogation methods will be enough to disrupt plots on Western soil by would-be jihadis - of which all have been rather inept thus far in the post-9-11 era. Case in point: the liquid bomber plot, which finally has resulted in some convictions after three trials.

Conservative partisans of the Bush Administration will sneer at the phrase "post-9-11 approach to terrorism" but the truth is that an obsessive focus on preventing the next 9-11 - and using it to justify all manner of compromises of our basic liberties, embracing illegal methods of torture, and engaging in adventurous military expeditions to remake every possible home for Al Qaeda to take roost - will make us more vulnerable to the actual threat of terrorism, which has continued unabated on a scale far smaller than 9-11, but at a much higher frequency worldwide. Liberal partisans of the "anti-Bush" school will sneer at the phrase "nation-building", equating any military action by the US in a foreign land as imperialism redux, but ignoring the fact that terrorists are able to exploit failed states, and the very real correlation between medieval Islamic regimes and their hospitability to foreign jihadis, will ensure further attempted acts of mass-casualty terrorism, both on our soil and abroad.

And therein lies the problem. The discourse on both right and left remains dominated by 9-11, even as the right and left shout at each other across a widening rhetorical divide. To really make progress in reducing the threat of terrorism, to both the West and the muslim world alike, we need to be able to free ourselves of the 9-11 mindset and identify the true forces at work which drive these conflicts and grievances. In a nutshell, those forces are nationalism and a backlash against secularism, which has fostered nothing but corruption and autocracy in the muslim world in general and in the Middle East in particular. to put it bluntly, we can use that. The details are a topic for another post, however...

And so, the anniversary of 9-11 is upon us again. The most important question we can ask ourselves on this day is, what is the likelihood of this happening again? It seems that the answer to that question, at...

The obvious answer to the question is yes - and that goes for before as well as after 9-11. In many ways, 9-11 distorts the picture because it was the single largest casualty count of any terrorist attack in...

UPDATE: Another eyewitness claims to have been at Baharestan Square and saw no violence, though the scene was "tense". At this point it is impossible to know what to believe. We have to wait for the mainstream media to...

The Supreme Leader of Iran, last week: The race has ended whoever has voted for these candidates will receive divine reward. they all belong to the state they have gotten closer to god by voting, they have there were...

I expressed some concern earlier that the high rate of conversion to Islam by violent criminals in prison is going to lead to an increase in the share of criminal acts by muslims by definition. These criminals' conversion to...

A British newspaper, The Telegraph, is claiming that the unreleased photos from Abu Ghraib include images of rape and sexual abuse of men and women, as Seymour Hersh alleged a few years back. What makes this claim more credible...

The total deterioration of Somalia continues - with plowshares turned into swords: Their shrines were being destroyed. Their imams were being murdered. Their tolerant beliefs were under withering attack. So the moderate Sufi scholars recently did what so many...

Some thoughts on the foiled plot to bomb synagogues in the Bronx: The perpetrators were muslim. They were also black, and converted to Islam in prison. I hear Rod's complaint but I think he's being a bit politically correct...

Earlier, I argued that President Obama was right to change his mind, regarding the release of new photos of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. My good friend Hussein Rashid took issue with my position, arguing that...

The recent electoral losses of the Republican Party have indeed been good for conservatism, if for no reason other than the sprouting of new, fascinating conservative blogs run by principled and thought-provoking voices like Daniel Larison, Rod Dreher, and...

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Barbarism has a name in Islam - hirabah. (WARNING - graphic violence)This is why we need a War on Terror (or better yet, a WOMBAT). It's also why I favor intervention rather than isolationism. Pursuant to the debate here at...

In an explicit bid to appease hard-line Islamists, Afghanistan's "president" 1 Hamid Karzai has signed a bill into law that essentially legalizes rape of a woman by her husband:Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a...

A suicide bomber atttack at a mosque in the frontier town of Jamrud, Pakistan has destroyed the building and killed dozens of people during Friday prayers:A suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque packed with hundreds of worshippers for...

This is a horrific case of an honor killing in rural India:BHOJPUR (GHAZIABAD): A 16-year-old girl, Imrana, was set on fire inside her house on Monday in a case of what the police called 'moral vigilantism'. The victim had screamed...

Given that our President is a pretty sharp fellow, it's not surprising that he's also realized that the "War on Terror" branding needs to be retired:What's being sought is a more precise phrase that can recast the U.S. government's counterterrorism...

In the context of my earlier thoughts about how the muslim community can help combat extremism, one more thing occurs to me; perhaps what is also needed is a rebranding of the War on Terror. You cannot wage war against...

Ali A. Rizvi, a muslim blogger, asks the hard questions:Where are the large-scale protests and outrage from the Muslim community over the senseless deaths and rape of hundreds of thousands of poverty-ridden African Muslims?Why is there such a glaring discrepancy...

It seems that there was no plot against the Hajj after all, according to Saudi authorities:JEDDAH: The Ministry of Interior has denied reports published in a Washington-based online newspaper that Saudi officials had launched a massive crackdown on Al-Qaeda terrorists...

The victims of Islamic terrorists are disproportionately muslims - and we have seen that nothing is sacred to these barbarians, not women and children, not muslims praying in mosques, not the holy month of Ramadan - now, not even the...

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Believe me, the title of this post is mild praise compared to what these subhuman animals deserve:An Islamist rebel administration in Somalia had a 13-year-old girl stoned to death for adultery after the child's father reported that three men had...