Parents In Denial: Radical Imam Anwar al-Awlaki's dad claims son is an "all-American boy"

I know most parents will usually tend to see the best in their children, or at least try to, but there are times when there's absolutely nothing admirable or good in their offspring. I'm talking about those people that are evil, at best. Murderers and rapists and inciters of murder, better known as terrorists. And yet the parents of those villains will defend them to the end, even as far as proclaiming their goodness. They are what you call "in-denial", whether out of stupidity or because it's too difficult to admit to themselves they gave birth to a monster.

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Take radical Imam Anwar al-Awlaki's father, Nasser al-Awlaki, who was recently interviewed by CNN. He is an educated man, a doctor in Yemen who has actually convinced himself his kid is a good guy, an "all-American boy" who would love to return to the U.S. And yes, I'm sure he would love to return, so he could recruit more young Muslim men into jihad, like he did Major Nidal Malik Hasan. Other than the fact he was born here, he's as "all-American" as chow mein.

"He has been wrongly accused, it's unbelievable. He lived his life in America, he's an all-American boy. My son would love to go back to America, he used to have a good life in America. Now he's hiding in the mountains, he doesn't even have safe water to drink," Nasser told CNN.

And although Al-Awlaki has also been tied to Umar the Detroit bomber, daddy is convinced his son had no such contact and the he is not a member of al-Qaeda. Authorities in Yemen believe Anwar is somewhere in the southern part of the country, hiding out with other al-Qaeda members, the good doctor thinks otherwise:

"What do you expect my son to do? There are missiles raining down on the village. He has to hide. But he is not hiding with al Qaeda," he said, adding "our tribe is protecting him right now."

Although adamant about his son not associating with terrorists, nor being one, nor encouraging others to commit terrorist acts (in spite of proof to the contrary) he does concede that his attitude changed after being incarcerated in Yemen in 2006.

"They put him in jail for 18 months, and I detected a change after he got out of prison. He began to get away from the mainstream," Nasser said, adding, "he is a preacher. You cannot tie Anwar to acts of terrorism."

Has papa asked himself why the son was jailed for 18 months? And the further deluded dad seems to think he can convince his son to give himself up:

Nasser said he would do his best to convince his son to surrender "but they are not giving me time, they want to kill my son. How can the American government kill one of their own citizens? This is a legal issue that needs to be answered."

Terrorism is far from a legal issue. Terrorists do not abide by any laws other than their own, and they happen to be cruel and barbaric. And how can the government kill one of its own citizens? Hopefully the Yemeni government will do that for us.