BI agents had identified al-Aulaqi as a known, important "senior recruiter for al Qaeda", and a spiritual motivator.[62][130]
Al-Aulaqi's name came up in a dozen terrorism plots in the U.S., UK, and Canada. The cases included suicide bombers in the 2005 London bombings, radical Islamic terrorists in the 2006 Toronto terrorism case, radical Islamic terrorists in the 2007 Fort Dix attack plot, the jihadist killer in the 2009 Little Rock military recruiting office shooting, and the 2010 Times Square bomber. In each case the suspects were devoted to al-Aulaqi's message, which they listened to on laptops, audio clips, and CDs.[19][45][49][131]
Al-Aulaqi's recorded lectures were also an inspiration to Islamist fundamentalists who comprised at least six terror cells in the UK through 2009. Michael Finton (Talib Islam), who attempted in September 2009, to bomb the Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in Springfield, Illinois, admired al-Aulaqi and quoted him on his Myspace page. In addition to his website, al-Aulaqi had a Facebook fan page with a substantial percentage of "fans" from the U.S., many of whom were high school students.
Al-Aulaqi influenced several other extremists to join terrorist organizations overseas and to carry out terrorist attacks in their home countries. Mohamed Alessa and Carlos Almonte*, two American citizens from New Jersey who attempted to travel to Somalia in June 2010 to join Al Shabaab, the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group based there*—allegedly watched several al-Aulaqi videos and sermons in which al-Aulaqi warned of future attacks against Americans in the U.S. and abroad. Zachary Chesser (nicknamed Abu Talha al-Amrikee), another American citizen who was arrested for attempting to provide material support to Al Shabaab, also told federal authorities that he watched online videos featuring al-Aulaqi and that he exchanged several e-mails with al-Aulaqi. In July 2010, Paul Rockwood pleaded guilty to, and received an eight-year prison sentence for, assembling a hit list of 15 targets for assassination or bomb attacks within the U.S. of people who he felt had desecrated Islam. Rockwood admitted to having become a "strict adherent to the violent jihad-promoting ideology of cleric Awlaki", which "included a personal conviction that it was Rockwood's religious responsibility to exact revenge by death on anyone who desecrated Islam", and following al-Aulaqi's ideology, "including devotion to [Awlaki's] violence-promoting works, Constants on the Path to Jihad and 44 Ways to Jihad".
In January 2010, CNN reported that U.S. "security sources" said that there is concrete evidence that al-Aulaqi was Abdulmutallab's recruiter and one of his trainers, and met with him prior to the attack. In February 2010, al-Aulaqi admitted in an interview published in al-Jazeera that he taught and corresponded with Abdulmutallab, but denied having ordered the attack.
Representative Pete Hoekstra, the senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said officials in the Obama administration and officials with access to law enforcement information told him the suspect "had contact [with al-Aulaqi]
The governor of Shabwa said in January 2010 that al-Aulaqi was on the move with a group of al-Qaeda elements from Shabwa, including Fahd al-Quso, who was wanted in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole.
On July 16, the U.S. Treasury Department added him to its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists. As a result, any U.S. bank accounts he may have would be frozen, Americans were forbidden from doing business with him, and he was banned from traveling to the U.S. Stuart Levey, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said al-Aulaqi "has proven that he is extraordinarily dangerous, committed to carrying out deadly attacks on Americans and others worldwide … [and] has involved himself in every aspect of the supply chain of terrorism—fundraising for terrorist groups, recruiting and training operatives, and planning and ordering attacks on innocents."
A few days later, the United Nations Security Council placed al-Aulaqi on its UN Security Council Resolution 1267 list of individuals associated with al-Qaeda, saying in its summary of reasons that he is a leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and was involved in recruiting and training camps
Just a smattering...but Im SURE you believe he was just an accidental tourist.