Radical Islamic Cleric Revises Fatwa to Apply to "Less Freedom-Loving U.S."

Yemen--A prominent radical Islamic cleric who had previously issued a fatwa declaring war against the "freedom-loving bastion of liberty that is the U.S. government" revised his fatwa yesterday. It now applies to the "kind-of-more-socialistic enclave of intrusive state-run programs that is the U.S. government."

The cleric said the revised fatwa was necessary because the character of the U.S. has changed so much in the last couple of years that his "terrorist followers were becoming confused as to what is the target of their religiously-motivated hatred."

Radical Islamic officials said the U.S. "still has a free-enough feel to it" to justify "really disliking the U.S." but the clarifications to the fatwa were necessary because "some terrorists were thinking the fatwa maybe applied to China, where tax rates are going down and free enterprise is increasingly encouraged."