You see, this is where the sucker gets tricky. If you are consistent, Awlaki is a devout imam, true to pure Islam. That's a fact, and all of this turning ourselves inside out to explain our nonsensical avoidance of original Islam is self destructive.
Anwar al-Awlaki guided the 911 jihadis, the Fort Hood Major Muslim, the Christmas ball bomber. He was imam at the respected Dar al Hijreh.
UK Muslim TV channel linked to al-Qaida cleric al-AwlakiSatellite broadcaster the Islam Channel denies giving a platform to jihadist extremist
A London-based satellite broadcaster that describes itself as "the voice of authority for Muslims in the UK" has been accused of giving a platform to Anwar al-Awlaki, the extremist cleric with alleged links to al-Qaida and to the man charged with trying to blow up a transatlantic jet on Christmas Day.
The Islam Channel, a free-to-air English-language channel that claims to be "a trustworthy source to the two million-plus population of Muslims in the UK", last year carried adverts for a box set of DVDs of Awlaki's sermons and for at least two events at which the cleric was due to be the star speaker via a video link.
The channel's website has allowed visitors to click through to a pooled archive of Islamic scholars, from which they can download sermons by Awlaki, including "Stop Police Terror", "Brutality Towards Muslims" and "It's a War against Islam".
Islamic scholars have expressed concern. "Anwar al-Awlaki is asking all Muslims to unite against the west as Muslims," said Dr Irfan al-Alawi of the Centre for Islamic Pluralism. "He supports jihad to ensnare all naive, young people who get emotionally attached and go on jihadist tirades."
US intelligence agencies claim Awlaki is a key member of al-Qaida. Last week John Brennan, the US deputy national security adviser, said there were "indications" there had been direct contact between Awlaki and Umar Abdulmutallab, the 23-year-old former University College London student charged with trying to set off a bomb on a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.
Awlaki has also been linked to an attack by a US army major, Nidal Malik Hasan, last November, in which 13 people died. "Mr Awlaki is a problem," Brennan said. "He's clearly a part of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He's not just a cleric. He is trying to instigate terrorism."
Awlaki, a US-born engineer-turned-cleric, is now based in Yemen, where some reports suggest he was killed just before Christmas in a strike on a suspected al-Qaida base. His family insist he was not harmed in the raid.
Leading British Muslim organisations, including the Islamic Society of Britain, have promoted Awlaki's lectures in the past, but now condemn his views.
They praised him ........and now condemn him. Taqiya.
