Yemen-American imam calls for US Muslim revolt

"To the Muslims in America I have this to say, how can your conscience allow you to live in peaceful coexistence with a nation responsible for terrible crimes against your own brothers and sisters?” he asked. "How can you have loyalty to a government leading the war against Muslims?”

Al-Awlaki, who has used his personal Web site to encourage Muslims around the world to kill U.S. troops in Iraq, disappeared in Yemen a year ago, according to his father. Yemeni security officials say they believe he is hiding in a region of the mountainous nation that has become a refuge for Islamic militants.

He was in regular contact with Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people in a rampage at the Fort Hood Army post in Texas. He communicated with al-Awlaki in e-mail exchanges 10 to 20 times over several months last year.

Al-Awlaki also is believed to have been in contact with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who attempted to blow up a passenger airliner in Detroit on Christmas day with explosives concealed in his underwear.

"Our brother, Umar Farouk, has succeeded in breaking through the security systems that have cost the U.S. government alone over $40 billion since 9/11,” he said in an excerpt of the tape provided by SITE.

U.S. authorities have been increasingly worried about the presence of Americans supporting jihad inside the country. Over the past week, a Pennsylvania woman, who went by the name "Jihad Jane,” was accused in a plot to kill a Swedish cartoonist; a New Jersey man was held by authorities in Yemen; and five young Pakistani-American men from Northern Virginia were charged by Pakistani officials with planning terrorist attacks in the South Asian country.

More than a dozen Americans captured or identified by the U.S. government and its allies as actively supporting jihad, or holy war, in the past two years.

Al-Awlaki, has for years posted messages online supporting violent Islamic extremism. A U.S. citizen himself, he has targeted his message, particularly in Internet postings, to broad, English-speaking audience

On March 7, al-Qaida’s American-born spokesman Adam Gadahn called on Muslims serving in the U.S. armed forces to emulate Hasan, whom he called a role model, and attack the military.