The headlines are shouting "Fugitive cleric al-Awlaki warns of future attacks" or "American-born cleric praised in al Qaeda audio message‎" or "US-Born al Qaeda Cleric Says Kill Americans" or "Radical cleric justifies killing of US civilians"....

Clearly Mr. Awlaki has lost his marbles.
Because he has turned his back on the principles and history of the faith which he professes to follow and teach.

The last headline is especially telling. In Islam, there is no justification for wrong. The history of the Prophet Muhammad is abundantly clear with that message. When the Muslims were persecuted, tortured and even killed during the Meccan era, the message by the Prophet was patience and perseverance in the face of the wrong. When they negotiated a treaty with Meccans, from Madina, which was seemingly imbalanced in favor of the Meccans, he honored his agreement, even if it meant turning back new converts. During the Madinan period, when he was undermined by the hypocrites, and the son of the chief hypocrite offered to kill his own father to end the controversy, he insisted that such an act would be unacceptable, unjustifiable and wrong. Even in war, prisoners of war and those who surrendered and even local vegetation had rights, even in the heat of the battle, let alone civilians. Lastly, suicide is strictly forbidden, even on the battlefield, and that is an undeniable and indisputable fact and principle.

The principles that underly our faith, and the noble history of those who practised it clearly make the words of this individual baseless. For him to support and suggest for the major in the Ft Hood tragedy and the young Nigerian in the Christmas day event to carry out such heinous acts, it begs the question, has this guy lost his marbles? Perhaps his call for "killing Americans" is a suicidal call for his own death?

I can't say for sure. All I can say is he and others need to stop misrepresenting our noble religion. You want to carry on as such, make sure to distance yourself from the religion and principles you clearly are violating and tarnishing its name.