Cleric in Fort Hood probe grew more radical in Yemeni jail

SANAA, Yemen -- The Yemeni-American cleric at the center of the investigations into last month's massacre of 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., became more openly radical in Yemen, following a path taken by other extremists in this failing Middle East nation with a growing al-Qaeda presence, according to relatives, friends and associates in Yemen.

In interviews, the friends and relatives said that the 38-year-old cleric, Anwar al-Aulaqi, blamed the United States for 18 months he spent in a Yemeni jail, a little-known chapter in Aulaqi's life that some described as a key path in his radicalization.

Aulaqi, who was born in the United States, left for Britain in early 2002 after he drew scrutiny from American authorities. U.S. authorities allege that Aulaqi was a spiritual adviser to three of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers while he was a prayer leader at the Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Va., and at another mosque in San Diego. An examination of some of Aulaqi's sermons and lectures, as well as interviews conducted here, show that he increasingly began to publicly endorse violence as a religious duty after he returned to Yemen in early 2004, completing his transformation from an imam who condemned the Sept. 11 attacks to an Internet preacher who views Americans as legitimate targets.

Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, the alleged shooter in the Fort Hood attacks, first contacted Aulaqi by e-mail in December 2008. U.S. authorities intercepted some of the e-mails but did not see them as a potential threat. The FBI has declined to comment on Aulaqi, citing the ongoing investigation.

After the attack at Fort Hood, Aulaqi issued a statement that called Hasan a "hero.'' In an interview later with a Yemeni journalist , Aulaqi denied he ordered or incited Hasan to carry out the attacks but said that Hasan considered him a confidant.

Aulaqi's path to radicalization, at first, appeared unlikely. The Aulaqis hail from sultans who once ruled what is now Yemen's southern province of Shabwa, including the ancestral village where Aulaqi now lives with his wife and five children. Aulaqi's father, Nasser al-Aulaqi, is a former president of Sanaa University and minister of agriculture.

Anwar al-Aulaqi was born in New Mexico in 1971 but went to Yemen as a child. He studied in a secular high school in the capital, Sanaa, along with children from other elite families, before moving to Colorado in 1991 to attend college, said a close relative who spoke for his family in an hour-long interview. The relative spoke under condition of anonymity in order not to harm the family's efforts to persuade Aulaqi to become moderate.

He described Aulaqi as an avid swimmer who enjoyed deep-sea fishing. His ambition was to become a college professor, focusing on finding ways to address water shortages in Yemen, the relative said. Like many Arabs, Aulaqi was angered by the U.S. assault on Iraq in the first Persian Gulf War, the relative said, but Aulaqi didn't show signs of radicalization afterward.

"He was very moderate. He was always against al-Qaeda ideology," said the relative, adding that Aulaqi's contact with the hijackers was "coincidence."

After Sept. 11, 2001, Aulaqi grew frustrated and felt targeted by U.S. authorities, said the relative.

"September 11 changed a lot of Muslims," the relative said. "And the invasion in Iraq in 2003 made him even stronger in his beliefs."