Intelligence agencies intercepted communications in the last year between the Muslim Army psychiatrist accused in the shooting deaths of 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., and a radical cleric who once preached at a mosque in Virginia, the New York Times reports.
Nidal Hasan (gov)
But after an inquiry, federal authorities decided not to pursue the matter, the newspaper reports.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is accused in the shooting deaths of 13 people at the Texas military base last week. Intelligence agencies had monitored his communications, believed to be email, with Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born imam who now lives in Yemen, where he runs a Web site and blog praising anti-Western terrorism.
Anwar al-Aulaqi
In a blog posting today, Awlaki called Hasan a hero for his alleged shooting spree. The Web site is www.anwar-alawlaki.com. Read our previous story about the blog post here.
Aulaqi is the former spiritual leader of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Va., which has long been under law enforcement scrutiny for suspected ties to radical Islam. Aulaqi counseled two of the Sept. 11, 2001 hijackers in the months before they carried out the attacks on New York and Washington. He later moved to Yemen, where he conducted on-line propaganda campaigns on al-Qaeda’s behalf, U.S. authorities have said. The U.S. also suspects Aulaqi helped plot al-Qaeda attacks, according to this February 2008 article in The Washington Post.
