We are at war with Islamic radicals

“N.C. Congresswoman Calls for American to Be Stripped of Citizenship Over Al Qaeda Website

By Cristina Corbin

Published July 20, 2010

Samir Khan, a 24-year-old North Carolina man who left for Yemen last October, is believed to be editor-in-chief of Inspire, a newly launched online magazine that seeks to recruit members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (FoxNews.com).

A North Carolina man suspected of running Al Qaeda’s new online magazine should be stripped of his American citizenship and charged with providing material support to the terrorist group, a U.S. lawmaker said Tuesday.

U.S. intelligence officials believe that Samir Khan, a 24-year-old web-savvy radical from Charlotte, N.C., is the editor-in-chief of Inspire, Al Qaeda’s new online magazine that features an article purportedly written by Usama Bin Laden, as well as instructions on how to make a homemade bomb.

Written in colloquial English, the website also features posts from Anwar Al-Awlaki, an America-born cleric linked to several attacks on the U.S., including the Foot Hood massacre and the failed Times Square car bomb plot.

The publication, with its punchy headlines, seeks to recruit members to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula – the notorious terror group's Yemeni branch that is linked to the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound U.S. flight last Christmas. And it has alarmed members of the U.S. intelligence community, some of whom say Khan may be encrypting messages within the site’s 67 pages of flashy graphics.

On Tuesday, Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said Khan should be stripped of his citizenship and charged with aiding and abetting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

The eight-term congresswoman, whose district includes Charlotte and who has been monitoring Khan’s activities since 2007, also expressed outrage with the intelligence community for not more aggressively pursuing Khan.

"Based on his activities, it really appears that he had a relationship with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula while he was here in the U.S.," Myrick said in an interview with FoxNews.com. "That was not followed up with the intelligence community."