SANAA, Yemen, July 23 (UPI) -- U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was radicalized by groups inside the United States, an adviser to the Yemeni president said in an interview.
U.S. President Barack Obama sparked controversy in April when he authorized the assassination of Awlaki. The U.S.-born cleric is accused of contacting the suspect in the November shooting rampage in Fort Hood, Texas, and the would-be bomber of a passenger jet Christmas Day before their operations.
In an interview with PBS, Abdul-Karim al-Eryani, an adviser to the Yemeni president, said the al-Qaida cleric was radicalized in the United States.
The adviser said he was confident that Awlaki "was not at all radicalized in Yemen. He was radicalized in the United States."
The United Nations placed Awlaki on its consolidated list of suspects tied to the Taliban or al-Qaida this week and the U.S. Treasury Department singled out Awlaki as a terrorist organizer last week.
Eryani downplayed the significance of Awlaki, who is accused of being a top ideologist for al-Qaida.
"He is a huge threat as an instigator, but not as a planner and executer of terrorism," he said.
Asked whether Yemeni forces could wage operations to capture the terrorist leader, the adviser said he was well protected in the mountains east of the capital Sanaa.
"I wouldn't say he is beyond capture, but he is well protected, but not beyond capture," he said.
