Watch the full “Vanguard” episode “Showdown in Klan Town” only on Current TV, premiering Friday, March 1, at 9E/6P.

Watch the full “Vanguard” episode “Showdown in Klan Town” only on Current TV, premiering Friday, March 1, at 9E/6P.

Watch the full “Vanguard” episode “Showdown in Klan Town” only on Current TV, premiering Friday, March 1, at 9E/6P.

Putzel talks to Jay Lewis, an IRS employee who shot at a man
who he says caused a car accident and then assaulted him

After the premiere of the episode in January, Putzel hosted a live Q&A session on Twitter. Here’s a look at some of the thought-provoking questions that were raised:

Yup, 24 RT @rahsmodernlife: @christofputzel I didn’t know there were so many states that also had the Stand Your ground law

— Christof Putzel (@ChristofPutzel) January 26, 2013

SYG is equally applied to every American in states w/ SYG law RT @jdubrich does stand your ground laws work against cops? Because it should.

— Christof Putzel (@ChristofPutzel) January 26, 2013

No, it is more likely more states will embrace the law. RT @david_perrettco: do you think the US congress will do anything about this?

— Christof Putzel (@ChristofPutzel) January 26, 2013

Apparently it does in some cases. RT @kittykittykia it applies to criminals also, so what exactly is gun control?

— Christof Putzel (@ChristofPutzel) January 26, 2013

@christofputzel that last segment was powerful. He regrets everything, but it did not change his desire to carry…

— Hello Kitty (@KittyKittyKia) January 26, 2013

That’s the main issue w/ Stand Your Ground RT @bacchuscleric: should someone have 2 decide btwn being assaulted or worse and being arrested?

— Christof Putzel (@ChristofPutzel) January 26, 2013

Good question! RT @pinky_kitty_cat: great work!why is a state saying 2 convicted felons have the right to have guns EVER?

— Christof Putzel (@ChristofPutzel) January 26, 2013

Watch the full “Vanguard” episode “The Right to Kill: Stand Your Ground USA” only on Current TV, premiering Friday, January 25, at 9E/6P.

Watch the full “Vanguard” episode “The Right to Kill: Stand Your Ground USA” only on Current TV, premiering Friday, January 25, at 9E/6P.

Watch the full “Vanguard” episode “The Right to Kill: Stand Your Ground USA” only on Current TV, premiering Friday, January 25, at 9E/6P.

Hammami, 28, who goes by the name Abu Mansour Al Amriki (the American), posted a video of himself on YouTube condemning his former comrades in arms, accusing them of mistreating foreign recruits and ignoring the principles of their Islamic faith, focused only on retaining power for themselves.

In an exclusive interview with Current TV that Hammami gave from Somalia, he said that he knew the brash tactic could get him killed, but that he felt it was important to speak out about how Al Shabaab is “running a police state to keep those in power in power, as opposed to what is in the best interest of Islam.”

“They don’t have any other objective and it’s gotten out of hand,” he added. “Our entire work is to keep one guy in power on his throne.”

Like the rest of Al Shabaab, Hammami has been on the run for months as U.S.-backed Kenyan and Ethiopian forces have pushed the militant group out of Somalia’s population centers and deeper into the countryside.

I first profiled Hammami in the “Vanguard” documentary, “American Jihadi,” two years ago without ever having made contact with him. However, five months ago, after he was rumored to be dead, he reached out to me and we began a brief correspondence before he disappeared in late May after African Union troops began driving Al Shabaab out of their strongholds. Earlier this week, I was awakened at 3 a.m. and realized he was contacting me again from somewhere in Somalia.

While Hammami no longer has access to the Internet, he arranged for the previously recorded video, titled “An Urgent Message,” to be uploaded to YouTube this morning using the same account that was used to post his last video in March. Wearing the same clothes and in the same room as in his earlier video, he speaks to the camera in Arabic, condemning Al Shabaab’s leadership, its unwillingness to take Jihad beyond the borders of Somalia, and its poor treatment of foreign mujahedeen fighters. He says he has tried repeatedly to resolve the conflict peacefully, but without success and appealed to al-Qaida for its help in resolving the breach.

After leaving his family to join Islamic fighters in the failed African state, Hammami quickly rose in the ranks of the Jihadist forces, recruiting many foreign fighters like himself using the tools of the Internet and advocating international revolution against Islam’s enemies with the Somali group in which he was once regarded as a major force.

When asked why he chose to release the video at this time, he claimed he was fed up with Al Shabaab’s “continuous oppression” and regrets not speaking out sooner. He said he’d spent much of the past few months in isolation from his former allies and hiding from the African Union forces, which gave him time to think about his duties as a Muslim. While his disillusionment with Al Shabaab was “a long time coming,” he concluded that it was time to “stand up for the oppressed” after a fellow foreign fighter was jailed by the militant group without trial or explanation.

“They are imprisoning people without any proof of crime and without trial,” he told me, adding that Al Shabaab leaders commonly “suppress anyone they suspect might one day challenge their authority.”

His friend, who Hammami would only describe as “Arab,” had also been sent to a “brutal” Jihadi training camp, where he claimed three recruits recently died from abuse and starvation by their trainers. In defense of his friend, Hammami, who himself is under indictment in the United States accused of aiding terrorists, said the Islamic militants “haven’t charged him with anything … It doesn’t make any sense.”

Hammami is well aware that making such a public break with the al-Qaida-linked militia he joined six years ago is a dangerous move.

“It’s a wager to see if anything will come from telling the truth,” Hammami said, “but for the sake of history, I have to get the real story out there.”

Current will continue following this story as it develops.

Hammami — who was reported as having been killed in April — made contact with Current TV three weeks ago, after watching Putzel’s 2010 “Vanguard” documentary about Hammami, “American Jihadi.” Putzel spoke with Hammami’s parents, Shafik and Debra Hammami, about the news that their son is alive and shares clips from that conversation — their first in-depth, on-camera interview since their son disappeared in 2006.

Spitzer asks Putzel if he has any sense as to how Hammami went from being a regular American kid to a terrorist. “You can never underestimate the power of faith,” Putzel answers. “Faith is an incredibly strong driver. When Omar converted to Islam, he found his path.”

For more insight, watch Spitzer’s prior interview with Putzel here. Read Putzel’s blog post on this unfolding story here.

By Christof Putzel, “Vanguard” correspondent

Omar Hammami, the 28-year-old American from Alabama who joined an al-Qaida-affiliated Islamic militant group fighting in Somalia, has just published his 125-page memoir online, confirming that he is alive, contrary to the numerous reports that he was beheaded last month. I spent the morning with Hammami’s parents at their home in Daphne, Ala., who until our meeting still were unsure if their son was alive.

Reading from Hammami’s memoir, which was posted online today, Shafik and Debra Hammami gave Current TV an exclusive interview. Hammami was the subject of Vanguard’s 2010 documentary “American Jihadi,” which documented his journey from Alabama to the front lines of Somalia and the reaction from his friends back home.

After viewing “American Jihadi,” Hammami made contact exclusively with Current TV three weeks ago, indicating that he was ready to tell his story.

“I just know that there are a lot of people who would like to see me dead,” Hammami told me in one of our first exchanges, “and one day the report will be a real one.”

Al Shabaab is an Islamic militant group within Somalia with direct ties to al-Qaida. Late last year the group lost control of the capital, Mogadishu, and is losing power in the rest of the country and fracturing. Al Shabaab has also suffered military and political setbacks in its fight with U.S.-backed foreign forces and Somalia’s U.N.-backed transitional government.

Once considered a key figure of Al Shabaab’s leadership, posting videos on YouTube of himself leading battles in the field and recruiting other Muslim Westerners to join him in Somalia, Hammami appears to have fallen out of favor with the weakened organization and is currently in hiding alone. In March, he posted a video in which he described his fears that Al Shabaab may plan to kill him.

Hammami has been indicted on terrorism charges and is wanted by the FBI. When I asked if he would consider surrendering to the U.S., Hammami replied, “Of course not! I didn’t leave America for a thrill ride with the hopes of finding a get-out-of-jail-free card at the end of the boardwalk. This is a struggle of creed, culture and civilization that won’t end until Islam is supreme. My life is just one drop in the bucket in the endeavor of achieving that great aspiration. I wouldn’t trade the blessing of martyrdom in this cause for anything in this world or even all of it 10 times over.”

Hammami’s online memoir, written in English, details his journey from a suburban American kid raised Baptist to a jihadist on the front lines in Somalia, offering a rare look into one of the most notorious Islamic militant groups in the world. In his memoir, he describes his decision to leave his wife and young daughter to join forces with Al Shabaab in Somalia.

The narrative — sometimes dramatic, sometimes riveting — is part diary, part travel guide, part jihadi training manual, filled with schoolboy wonder, humor, self-doubt, bravado and, at times, transfixing fear. During guerrilla battles with an Ethiopian enemy, Hammami would find himself hungry and thirsty for days and would dream about ice cream cones and Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

“Brothers were left to fend for themselves, having no maps, no money, no source of food and no source of water,” he writes. “Some brothers were blessed with too much water, others were forced to drink urine and eat the roots of plants. Some ran into the jettisoned can food of the Ethiopians, while others were forced to eat maggots and snails.”

Hammami sought me out and found a way to contact me undetected. After a few exchanges, he asked, “Do you think I’m some wicked, bloodthirsty madman? Or some naïve, lost little boy?”

I’ve yet to answer. Current will update as the story continues to develop.

Watch the full episode of “American Jihadi” and Christof’s interview on “Viewpoint.”