Al-Qaida’s U.S.-born spokesman, Adam Gadahn, has repeated the militant group’s conditions for peace with America. Among other things, he’s calling on President Obama to withdraw his troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and end support for Israel. (June 20)
Adam Yahiye Gadahn; born Adam Pearlman, September 1, 1978) is an American senior operative, cultural interpreter, spokesman and media advisor for Al-Qaeda. Since 2004, he appeared in a number of videos produced by Al-Qaeda as “Azzam the American” (sometimes transcribed as Ezzam Al-Amerikee). Gadahn converted to Sunni Islam in 1995, at the age of 17, at a California mosque and is described as a “homegrown”, meaning that he has converted to an ideology so firmly that he is now willing to harm his country of origin. He is believed to have inspired bin Laden’s September 2007 video.
In 2004, he was added to the FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list. On October 11, 2006 he was removed from that list, and placed on the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Rewards for Justice Program list of wanted criminals. On the same day, Gadahn was indicted based on the testimony of the FBI case agent E.J. Hilbert II, in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the Central District of California by a federal grand jury for the capital crime of treason for aiding an enemy of the United States (i.e. Al-Qaeda). Gadahn is the first American charged with treason since Tomoya Kawakita in 1952.