The Sheikh based his ruling on the assumption that America is a country of Ahl al-Kitaab. He was told by one of his students that there was a mixture of Ahl al-Kitaab, communists, atheists, what-have-you here, and he said, if that is true, then it is not halal for you if you doubt the religion of the slaughterer. The Lajnah has passed the same fatwa.