THURSDAY, JULY 1, 2010


KLMNO


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The World


Aulaqi had direct role in plane incident, U.S. official says


by Greg Miller and Spencer S. Hsu


A radical Muslim cleric who was born in the United States and resides in Yemen “had a direct operational role” in the attempt- ed bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, a sen- ior U.S. counterterrorism official said Wednesday. The remark by Michael E. Lei-


PHOTOS BY CHICO HARLAN/THE WASHINGTON POST


Denny Tamaki, a Japanese lawmaker, has never met his father, a U.S. serviceman. He wants to move a U.S. base off the island.


Okinawa struggles with split identity


okinawa from A1


to a less populated region in the north of the island. Kan apolo- gized last week for the “heavy bur- den” facing Okinawans. Many locals on this Pacific is- land hosting more than half of the 47,000 U.S. troops stationed in Ja- pan complain most commonly about noise, congestion and crime. But emotional blood ties and cultural confusion amplify those concerns. Tormented by her identity, Tomlinson said she has tried to kill herself “a couple times” in the past two years. Tomlinson said she struggles to


convince herself — and others — that she is truly Japanese and Oki- nawan. She called her identity “ambiguous” and said her feeling of being an incomplete person has sometimes led to deep depres- sion. A generation of biracial Okina- wans knows about intercultural relationships, writ small. They know about romance and separa- tions, child-support battles and reunions. They know that Japa- nese children refer to their bira- cial peers as “halfs,” and nowa- days, they know of the local Amer- ican Asian school, for biracial children, where those kids are taught to call themselves “dou- bles.”


Okinawa’s demographics sep-


arate it from mainland Japan. Here, the rates of single-parent households and divorce are twice the national average. At the Amer- ican Asian school, 70 percent of the 80 students come from single- parent households, Principal Mi- dori Thayer said. “Unfortunately, some kids nev- er live with their father, but they cannot lose their DNA,” she said. “Their body shows that they are not 100 percent Japanese.” Denny Tamaki, 50, the local representative to the Japanese parliament, knows only that his father, an American serviceman whom he has never met, was named William. When William returned to the


States and Tamaki’s mother decid- ed not to follow, she burned his photos and letters. When they moved to a new home, she didn’t give him their new address. When Tamaki turned 10, his mother took him to a government office, where they officially changed his first name to Yasuhiro. Tamaki knows little English and wants Futenma moved off Okinawa because “it feels like we’re living under occupation.” But he has a passion for American music — Aerosmith, for instance —and American television shows. A decade ago he tried to track down his father, with no luck. When his kids ask about their grandfather, he tells them that it would take the detectives from “CSI: Miami” to find him.


Search for a father


Tomlinson’s mother and father were married on Okinawa and then moved together to Georgia after his tour on the island ended in 1975. Tomlinson was born in Hinesville, Ga., while her father was stationed at Fort Stewart. Tomlinson’s parents separated when she was 3; she returned to Okinawa in 1990 with her mother. Her father retained custody of their two older children, who stayed in the United States with him.


Growing up, Tomlinson said, she remembered nothing about the separation and never spoke to her father or siblings. “I’ve had to live with some tough decisions,” said Melissa’s father, who request- ed that his name not be used. Tomlinson said her conflicted feelings were often fueled by her mother, who told her she looked “like an American” and tried to hide her from her co-workers. She said they fought frequently, and


ter, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, is the most specific assertion so far re- garding Anwar al-Aulaqi’s in- volvement in the failed plot, which allegedly employed a would-be suicide bomber who is accused of boarding the flight with explosives in his underwear. Defending the Obama admin-


istration’s decision to authorize the CIA and the military to kill Aulaqi, Leiter told the Aspen In- stitute’s homeland security forum that the attack could have killed more than 300 people and that “it would be irresponsible not to think about directing all ele- ments of national power to pro- tect the American people.” U.S. officials had previously said that Aulaqi was linked to the attempt, but they had not speci- fied his role. A second U.S. official said that American intelligence services say Aulaqi provided the key link between the would-be bomber and those who trained him. “We think Aulaqi helped put


[Umar Farouk] Abdulmutallab in touch with the plotters and train- ers of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,” the official said, re- ferring to a regional affiliate of the main al-Qaeda organization. “He’s more than a propagandist. He’s an operational figure, a ter- rorist who lent his hands to at-


tacks on the United States.” Abdulmutallab, the son of a Ni-


gerian banker, was detained in Detroit after being subdued by other passengers as he allegedly tried to detonate the bomb. He has pleaded not guilty to charges


He’s “a terrorist who lent his hands to attacks on the United


States.” — U.S. official


that include attempting to kill the passengers on the plane. Aulaqi has emerged as an elo- quent and unapologetic advocate of violence against the West. His online sermons attract wide international audiences and are a source of particular concern to U.S. authorities because they are delivered in English.


A9 Muslim cleric tied to bomb attempt


Aulaqi also exchanged e-mails with the Army psychiatrist ac- cused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., in November. Before leaving the United States, Aulaqi preached at mosques in Califor- nia and Virginia, apparently com- ing into contact with at least two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers. U.S. intelligence officials be-


lieve that Aulaqi is increasingly involved in the operations of al- Qaeda’s offshoot in Yemen, acting as a recruiter and facilitator who has a deep familiarity with U.S. cities and society. He is not, how- ever, thought to have the skills to lead operations or build a bomb. The al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen placed a banner on jihadist Web sites this week advertising what it called a new English-language magazine. The online publication is to be called “Inspire” and in- cludes an interview with Aulaqi. millergreg@washpost.com hsus@washpost.com


Hsu reported from Aspen, Colo.


NOW, DURING OUR JULY 4TH SALE IN THE PARKING LOT AT TYSONS CORNER


Melissa Tomlinson, born to a Japanese mother and American father, feels culturally confused.


on washingtonpost.com


Multimedia series on life in Okinawa


For a compendium of graphics and short videos


on Okinawa, go to washingtonpost.com/world.


she told her mother: “Why did you have me? I want to be a Japa- nese, but I don’t get to choose.” In school, her dual identities


battled. Sometimes she was an American who didn’t speak prop- er English. Sometimes she was a Japanese who didn’t look Japa- nese. For several years, she tried to forget every English word she knew.


During high school, she said, a teacher encouraged her to learn English because she would need it if one day she wanted to track down her father. “Maybe you can hear the truth,” the teacher told her. “You should know both sides.” At the University of the Ryu-


kyus, Tomlinson tried to find Eng- lish-speaking friends. She watched American television without the subtitles. Still, she confided to friends that she felt depressed. From her mother, Tomlinson had heard only nasty tales about her father, who was once sta- tioned at the Army’s Torii base. Af- ter her junior year in college, in spring 2009, she decided to try to find him and left school for a time. In March, her U.S. military ID card, a privilege from a relation- ship she never had, was expiring. The Army passed along her fa- ther’s address. She e-mailed him, asking for him to sign the re- quired forms for a new ID. Weeks later, she heard back from the father who had not seen her since she was 3. “Hi Melissa, Hearing from you,


to say the least, came as quite a shock,” he wrote. “I was not aware that you could speak English let alone read or write it. The last time we had contact, and I am sure you do not remember it, you could only speak Japanese. Trying to bridge the gap with words after all this time would be futile. In life sometimes we have to make deci- sions that we don’t know if they are right or not, but we have to live with them.” Tomlinson read and reread the e-mail. She discussed it with friends, and together they parsed the words. Their relationship con- tinued, e-mail by e-mail, and she learned that he liked fishing, and that he missed Okinawa, and that he says he has thought about her every day. For all these years, he wrote, he


avoided contact because he didn’t want her to be torn between par- ents. “It would have made your life miserable,” he wrote.


harlanc@washpost.com


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