Nouakchott, Mauritania ? The ruler of this Islamic African republic is doing his utmost to be a loyal ally in the war on terrorism: He has jailed Muslim clerics for speaking against the war in Iraq, banned political sermons, outlawed anti-U.S. rallies.

Sparing no step, President Maaoya Sid’Ahmed Taya also has cracked down on mosques allegedly recruiting fighters for Iraq, shuttered some foreign-funded Koran schools and expelled some foreign Islamic aid workers.

The upshot: an isolated, Sahara nation that produced one of Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenants is courting American approval at the risk of an Islamic backlash.

“Sept. 11 hurt us so much — we don’t want that kind of thing. But this fight in Iraq — the Americans have hit right at the heart of Islam,” says Yacoub Jellal, speaking in Nouakchott, Mauritania’s capital.

“If I find a bomb, I’ll put it in my heart and explode next to an American soldier. I haven’t yet lived my life,” the 35-year-old businessman said, “but I’ll die to kill one American soldier.”

Allying with the United States risks stirring Islamic anger at home and exposing this northwest African country to bloodshed similar to what Muslim Turkey has endured in the past week.

As the Iraq invasion unfolded, authorities rounded up nearly 50 religious leaders, suspected radicals and alleged members of a Ba’ath political party linked to Saddam.

Many Mauritanians saw the crackdown as a pretext for hitting the opposition ahead of this month’s presidential election. Some also believe the government played it up to impress the United States.