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AHMED HIKMAT SHAKIR IS A shadowy figure who provided logistical assistance to one, maybe two, of the 9/11 hijackers. Years before, he had received a phone call from the Jersey City, New Jersey, safehouse of the plotters who would soon, in February 1993, park a truck bomb in the basement of the World Trade Center. The safehouse was the apartment of Musab Yasin, brother of Abdul Rahman Yasin, who scorched his own leg while mixing the chemicals for the 1993 bomb.When Shakir was arrested shortly after the 9/11 attacks, his "pocket litter," in the parlance of the investigators, included contact...

Most Americans have never heard of Anwar al Awlaki, but the radical Muslim cleric who may have inspired a young Nigerian man to try to blow up a plane on Christmas Day has been linked to the alleged perpetrators of the deadliest terror attacks on U.S. soil this decade, from 9/11 to the massacre at Fort Hood....

The rich kid with a brilliant school record was a ticking time bomb even before he turned up as an international student living in his father’s mansion block apartment in Britain. Classmates remember Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as such a pious youth that he was nicknamed “Imam” and “the Pope” after rebuking them for failing to live up to religious principles. Suicide bombers typically take half a dozen years to descend from religious fanaticism to “martyrdom”, which appears to be the case for this young Nigerian, a security expert said. Acting alone as a “clean skin” rather than by mingling with...

SANAA, Yemen -- Yemeni forces, backed by the United States, launched an attack Thursday on a meeting of al-Qaeda operatives where a Yemeni American preacher linked to the suspected gunman in the Fort Hood attacks might have been present, U.S. and Yemeni officials said. The strike on an alleged al-Qaeda hideout in southeastern Yemen killed at least 30 suspected militants and was the second such assault in the past week, according to Yemeni security and government sources. One of the possible meeting participants was Anwar al-Aulaqi, a U.S. citizen and extremist preacher who exchanged e-mails with the Army psychiatrist suspected...

(snipped) Hoekstra says that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab may have a common link with the Fort Hood shooter that shot 13 people in November. AFP, Dec. 26: There was a suggestion of links between Abdulmutallab and radical US-born Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi, who had contacts with the US army psychiatrist accused of gunning down 13 people at a Texas military base last month. "He may have been in contact with the American imam al-Aulaqi," Peter Hoekstra, the most senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and a member of Congress for Michigan, told AFP.

Anwar Al-'Awlaki, al Qaeda linked Muslim Cleric on his contact with the Fort Hood Terrorist Major Hasan: "Naturally, as I told you, the first message was asking for an edict regarding the [possibility] of a Muslim soldier killing his colleagues who serve with him in the American army. In other messages, Nidal was clarifying his position regarding the killing of Israeli civilians. He was in support of this, and in his messages he mentioned the religious justifications for targeting the Jews with missiles. Then there were some messages in which he asked for a way through which he could transfer...

The Yemeni-American imam who's been under renewed scrutiny after the deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, preaches against alcohol, birthday parties, black magic and extramarital sex. He also supports armed struggle — jihad — against the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has encouraged extremist insurgents in Pakistan and Somalia. None of that sets Anwar al Awlaki, 38, apart from other militant Sunni Muslim clerics — and even many mainstream ones — in the Middle East. Awlaki uses digital means to spread his views, however, through a blog, lectures on YouTube and Facebook pages with more than 1,000 fans....

The title page of Nidal Hasan's PowerPoint demonstration for a medical lecture in June 2007, indicates how little interest he took in medicine and how much in the perceived contradiction between being a Muslim and an American soldier. As the Pentagon and Senate launch what one analyst dubs "dueling Fort Hood investigations," will they confront the hard truth of the Islamic angle? Despite encouraging references to "violent Islamists" by Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Democrat of Connecticut), chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, there is reason to worry about a whitewash of the massacre that took place on Nov. 5; that is...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading al Qaeda’s message to Muslims in the West. They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings. The U.S.-born al-Awlaki has been an inspiration to several militants arrested in the United States and Canada in recent years, with his Web-based sermons often turning up on their computers.

United States Army Major Nidal Hasan told a radical cleric considered by authorities to be an al-Qaeda recruiter, "I can't wait to join you" in the afterlife, according to an American official with top secret access to 18 e-mails exchanged between Hasan and the cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, over a six month period between Dec. 2008 and June 2009.

The FBI said today that it appears Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan acted alone in the Fort Hood shootings, and was not involved in terrorist activities when a joint terrorism task force crossed paths with him last year. “At this point, there is no information to indicate Major Nidal Malik Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot,” the FBI said in a statement. “The investigation to date has not identified a motive, and a number of possibilities remain under consideration. We are working with the military to obtain, review and analyze all information relating to Major...

From Yemen, Anwar Awlaki Helped Inspire Fort Dix, Toronto Plots Despite Terror Connections, E-mails with Major Hasan Did Not Raise Red Flags By RICHARD ESPOSITO, REHAB EL-BURI, and BRIAN ROSS Nov. 11, 2009 — In addition to his contacts with Major Nidal Hasan, the radical American cleric, Anwar al Awlaki, served as an inspiration for men convicted in terror plots in Toronto and Fort Dix, New Jersey, according to government officials and court records reviewed by ABCNews.com. Despite his ties to other plots, including the one against the Army post at Fort Dix, some 20 e-mails between Awlaki and Major...

Senior Official: More Hasan Ties to People Under Investigation by FBI Alleged Shooter Had "Unexplained Connections" to Others Besides Jihadist Cleric Awlaki By MARTHA RADDATZ, BRIAN ROSS, MARY-ROSE ABRAHAM, and REHAB EL-BURI Nov. 10, 2009 A senior government official tells ABC News that investigators have found that alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan had "more unexplained connections to people being tracked by the FBI" than just radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki. The official declined to name the individuals but Congressional sources said their names and countries of origin were likely to emerge soon. Nidal Malik Hasan, left, is seen...

A senior government official tells ABC News that investigators have found that alleged Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan had "more unexplained connections to people being tracked by the FBI" than just radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki. The official declined to name the individuals but Congressional sources said their names and countries of origin were likely to emerge soon. Questions already surround Major Hasan's contact with Awlaki, a radical cleric based in Yemen whom authorities consider a recruiter for al Qaeda. U.S. officials now confirm Hasan sent as many as 20 e-mails to Awlaki. Authorities intercepted the e-mails but later...

The FBI knew for nearly a year before his murderous Fort Hood rampage that psycho Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan had repeatedly contacted al Qaeda -- but the blundering agency last night admitted it dismissed the lead. The clueless G-men said that at the time, they simply chalked up the chilling e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam and other terror-tied Islamic figures to his "research" as an Army shrink. Outraged congressional leaders immediately called for a probe into the debacle -- and the red-faced agency vowed to get to the bottom of things itself.

The Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood massacre apparently acted alone and without outside direction in the attack, investigative officials said Monday evening. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be charged by the U.S. military rather than in a civilian court, they said. Although investigative officials portrayed Hasan as a lone wolf, the investigators and a U.S. official disclosed that Hasan communicated 10 to 20 times with a radical imam overseas who in the past came under scrutiny for possible links to terror groups. The investigative officials said the communications began last year and continued into this year and "were...

The Army psychiatrist suspected of killing 12 soldiers and a civilian here last week was in e-mail contact earlier this year with a radical cleric in Yemen who has decried what he calls America's war against Islam, a federal law enforcement official said Monday. U.S. intelligence agencies intercepted between 10 and 20 e-mails from Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to Anwar al-Aulaqi, a U.S. citizen who once was a spiritual leader at the suburban Virginia mosque where Hasan had worshipped, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Mich.), the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said later Monday. Aulaqi responded to Hasan at least...

Fort Hood shooting: Texas army killer linked to September 11 terrorists Major Nidal Malik Hasan worshipped at a mosque led by a radical imam said to be a "spiritual adviser" to three of the hijackers who attacked America on Sept 11, 2001. By Philip Sherwell and Alex Spillius Published: 8:17PM GMT 07 Nov 2009 Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas Photo: GETTY Imam Anwar al-Awlaki The radical Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, accused of supporting attacks on British troops Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers...

And so a personnel file already teeming with red flags gets another giant one. If you’re wondering how a British newspaper managed to track down this information when the U.S. military apparently couldn’t, you’re not alone. There’s no question now that we need congressional hearings into how the army missed the warning signs on Hasan, especially given the suspicions as to why they might have looked the other way. Chop chop, Messrs. Boehner and Cantor. Hasan, the sole suspect in the massacre of 13 fellow US soldiers in Texas, attended the controversial Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Great Falls, Virginia, in...