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Headline News American Al-Qaeda spokesman arrested Published Date: March 08, 2010 KARACHI: The American-born spokesman for Al-Qaeda has been arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said yesterday, the same day Adam Gadahn appeared in a video calling for violence. The arrest of Gadahn is a major victory in the US-led battle against Al-Qaeda and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taleban commanders in Karachi. Gadahn - who has often appeared in Al-Qaeda videos - was arrested in the sprawling southern metropolis in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation said. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information. Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County, California, and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County. He moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI, and is said to have attended an Al-Qaeda training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group. He has been wanted by the FBI since 2004, and there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. The 31-year-old is known by various aliases including Yahya Majadin Adams and Azzam Al-Amriki. He has posted videos and messages calling for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. The most recent was posted yesterday, praising the US Army major charged with killing 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, as a role model for other Muslims. A US court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years. He could face the death penalty if convicted. He was also charged with two counts of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization. Gadahn has appeared in more than half a dozen Al-Qaeda videos. The video released yesterday appeared to have been made after the end of the year, but it was unclear exactly when. In the 25-minute video posted on militant websites, Adam Gadahn described Maj Nidal Hasan as a pioneer who should serve as a role model for other Muslims, especially those serving Western militaries. "Brother Nidal is the ideal role-model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes," he said. Gadahn was dressed in white robes and wearing a white turban as he called for attacks on what he described as "high-value targets". "You shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that military bases are the only high-value targets in America and the West. On the contrary, there are countless other strategic places, institutions and installations which, by striking, the Muslim can do major damage," he said, an assault rifle leaning up against a wall next to him. Hasan has been charged in the Nov 5 shooting that killed 13 people at Fort Hood. The 39-year-old Army psychiatrist remains paralyzed from the chest down after being shot by two civilian members of Fort Hood's police force. "Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role-model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers," Gadahn said. In the latest video, Gadahn said those planning attacks did not need to use only firearms like Hasan, but could use other weapons. "As the blessed operations of September 11th showed, a little imagination and planning and a limited budget can turn almost anything into a deadly, effective and convenient weapon." Gadahn said fighters should target mass transportation systems in the West and also wreak havoc "by killing or capturing people in government, industry and the media. He recommended finding ways to shake "consumer confidence and stifle spending" and noted that even unsuccessful attacks, such as the failed attempt to bomb a US airliner on Christmas Day, can bring major cities to a halt. "I am calling on every honest and vigilant Muslim in the countries of the Zionist-Crusader alliance in general and America, Britain and Israel in particular to prepare to play his due role in responding to and repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam," Gadahn said. Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Southfield, Michigan, condemned Gadahn's call for violence, calling it a "desperate" attempt by Al-Qaeda's spokesman to provoke bloodshed within the US. Walid, a Navy veteran, said Muslims have honorably served in the American military will be unimpressed by Al-Qaeda's message aimed at their ranks. "We thoroughly repudiate and condemn his statement and what we believe are his failed attempts to incite loyal American Muslims in the miltary," he said. Imad Hamad, the senior national adviser for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, based in Dearbon, Michigan, condemned Al-Qaeda's message and said it would have no impact on American Muslims. "This a worthless rhetoric that is not going to have any effect on people's and minds and hearts," he said. Al-Qaeda has used Gadahn as its chief English-speaking spokesman, and he has called for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. In one video, he ceremoniously tore up his American passport. In another, he admitted his grandfather was Jewish, ridiculing him for his beliefs and calling for Palestinians to continue fighting Israel. - AP
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