Drone strike kills Anwar al-Awlaki

waltky · Sep 30, 2011

Granny says, "Dat's right - put a Hellfire missile up their wazoo an' dat'll take care of `em...

Two U.S.-Born Terrorists Killed in CIA-Led Drone Strike
September 30, 2011 | Senior Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki and another America-born militant were killed in Yemen early Friday morning by a CIA-led U.S. drone strike, marking the highest-profile takedown of terror leaders since the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound.

Fox News has learned that two Predator drones hovering above al-Awlaki's convoy fired the Hellfire missiles which killed the terror leader. According to a senior U.S. official, the operation was carried out by Joint Special Operations Command, under the direction of the CIA. A total of four people were killed in the attack. President Obama called the strike a major "milestone" in the fight against Al Qaeda and its affiliates. "The death of Awlaki is a major blow to Al Qaeda's most active operational affiliate," Obama said Friday. "He took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent Americans ... and he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda." He said the strike is "further proof that Al Qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world."

Al-Awlaki was a U.S.-born Islamic militant cleric who became a prominent figure with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the network's most active branch. He was involved in several terror plots in the United States in recent years, using his fluent English and Internet savvy to draw recruits to carry out attacks. President Obama signed an order in early 2010 making him the first American to be placed on the "kill or capture" list. The Yemeni government and Defense Ministry announced al-Awlaki's death, without giving details. But American sources confirmed the CIA and U.S. military were behind the strike on al-Awlaki, whom one official described as a "big fish." The strike hit a vehicle with other suspected Al Qaeda members inside, in addition to al-Awlaki. According to a U.S. senior official, the other American militant killed in the strike was Samir Khan, the co-editor of an English-language Al Qaeda web magazine called "Inspire."

Khan, in his 20s, was an American of Pakistani heritage from North Carolina. His magazine promoted attacks against U.S. targets, even running articles on how to put together explosives. In one issue, Khan wrote that he had moved to Yemen and joined Al Qaeda's fighters, pledging to "wage jihad for the rest of our lives." The strike comes after a heavy presence of U.S. drones was spotted in the skies over the region over the last couple weeks, one source told Fox News. The strike underscores the expanding nature of the drone program, which has migrated beyond the borders of Pakistan into Yemen, Somalia and other countries. Yemeni security officials and local tribal leaders also said al-Awlaki was killed in an air strike on his convoy that they believed was carried out by the Americans.

Al-Awlaki would be the most prominent Al Qaeda figure to be killed since bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May. In July, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Yemeni-American was a priority target alongside Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's successor as the terror network's leader. The 40-year-old al-Awlaki had been in the U.S. crosshairs since his killing was approved by President Obama in April 2010 -- making him the first American placed on the CIA "kill or capture" list. At least twice, airstrikes were called in on locations in Yemen where al-Awlaki was suspected of being, but he wasn't harmed. In May, U.S. forces were able to track his truck but were unable to take him out.

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Obama: U.S.-born cleric's death 'major blow to al-Qaeda'
30 Sept.`11 : President Obama on Friday declared the killing of a fiery American-born cleric a "major blow to al-Qaeda's most active affiliate" and vowed a vigorous U.S. campaign to prevent the terror network and its partners from finding a haven anywhere in the world.

"Make no mistake, this is further proof that al-Qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world," Obama said. Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born al-Qaeda leader operating in Yemen, was killed Friday morning. Yemen's Defense Ministry says another American militant, Samir Khan, who produced an English-language al-Qaeda Web magazine, also died in the U.S. airstrike that killed al-Awlaki. The ministry made the announcement of Khan's death Friday in a mobile phone SMS message. Khan, in his 20s, was an American of Pakistani heritage from North Carolina who produced Inspire, an English-language Web magazine that spread al-Qaeda ideology and promoted attacks against U.S. targets, even running articles on how to put together explosives.

Details of al-Awlaki's killing remain murky, but his death marks a significant blow to al-Qaeda. "He directed the failed attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009. He directed the failed attempt to blow up U.S. cargo planes in 2010," Obama said. "And he repeatedly called on individuals in the United States and around the globe to kill innocent men, women and children to advance a murderous agenda." Al-Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and spent time as the imam of a mosque in Northern Virginia, isn't as big a fish as bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader killed in a stealth strike by Navy Seal Team 6 in May. But he might have been a more significant threat to the United States in recent years.

Up to the time of his death, U.S. officials remained concerned about his ability to inspire homegrown terrorists. The Obama administration even put him on the kill or capture list, allowing for an unprecedented lethal strike against a U.S. citizen. The 40-year-old al-Awlaki is believed to have inspired and even plotted or helped coordinate some of the recent attacks on the USA, including the failed Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner heading for Detroit, Mich., and the unsuccessful plot to send mail bombs on planes from Yemen to the United States in October.

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Albert Di Salvo · Sep 30, 2011

I wonder if we could get Obama to target himself?

waltky · Sep 30, 2011

A face only a mother could love...

Anwar Al-Awlaki: From American Boy to Face of Terror
Sept. 30, 2011 - Radical al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki's life may have ended in the violent blast of an airstrike in the heart of Yemen, but it started a half-a-world away in the heart of America.

Al-Awlaki was born in 1971 in New Mexico, where his Yemeni-born father was attending school, but as a boy moved back to Yemen with his family in 1978. He returned to the U.S. in 1991 to attend college in Colorado. By 1994, al-Awlaki, who had no formal religious training, had become the imam of a Muslim center in Denver. He moved to San Diego in 1996, where he attended graduate school and served as an imam at a local mosque. While al-Awlaki was establishing himself as a religious leader, he was also succumbing to temptation. In San Diego, he was twice arrested for soliciting prostitutes. He pled guilty both times, paying a fine and attending an AIDs awareness class for a 1996 charge and paying a fine, performing community service and serving three years of probation for the second offense.

It was al-Awlaki's ties to jihad, however, that brought him to the attention of federal authorities. In San Diego, he met with an associate of so-called "Blind Sheik" Omar Abdel Rahman, who had been convicted in connection with the 1993 terror attack on the World Trade Center. He was also serving as the vice president of an Islamic charity founded by a man believed to be an Osama bin Laden associate. The charity was thought to be an al Qaeda front. After a federal investigation, no charges were brought.

Two of the future 9/11 hijackers visited and met with al-Awlaki while he was serving as an imam in San Diego. In 2000, Nawaf al-Hamzi and Khalid al-Midhdar, both Saudis, traveled from an al Qaeda summit in Malaysia, where both the upcoming attacks on the USS Cole in Yemen and 9/11 were discussed, to San Diego. While staying in California, the men attended al-Awlaki's mosque and had private meetings with him. The 9/11 commission report later found: "Another potentially significant San Diego contact for [9/11 hijackers] Hazmi and Mihdhar was Anwar Al-al-Awlaki, an imam at the Rabat mosque. ... The operatives may even have met or at least talked to him the same day they first moved to San Diego. Hazmi and Mihdhar reportedly respected al-Awlaki as a religious figure and developed a close relationship with him."

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mikezila · Sep 30, 2011

Albert Di Salvo said: ↑

I wonder if we could get Obama to target himself?
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as often as he puts his foot in his mouth, is a hellfire up the butt really warranted? that would put the country another $68,000 in the hole.

Albert Di Salvo · Sep 30, 2011

mikezila said: ↑

as often as he puts his foot in his mouth, is a hellfire up the butt really warranted? that would put the country another $68,000 in the hole.
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Obama's like a drunk behind the wheel of a Porsche moving at 120 mph down a dead end street. $68K ain't much.

teeceemv · Sep 30, 2011

Reason to be happy.

waltky · Oct 1, 2011

Granny says it means the only good terrorist is a dead terrorist...

Anwar al-Awlaki dead: what it means for US, Yemen
September 30, 2011 - The assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen and Al Qaeda recruiter in Yemen, will be heralded as a major triumph in the US today. But it has very little to do with Yemen's own problems.

Anwar al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American preacher who has emerged in recent years as a recruiter for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed at around 10:00 local time in Yemen this morning, according to Yemen and unnamed US officials. In a brief statement, Yemen's foreign ministry said Awlaki was killed five miles outside of Kashef, in al-Jawf province, about 80 miles east of Sanaa, the capital. Yemen didn't say who carried out the attack, but early indications are that Awlaki was killed in an airstrike, which would almost certainly point to the US. Reuters reports that an unidentified US official confirmed the death.

The Obama administration, in concert with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, has been running an intense air campaign against Islamist militants in Yemen for the past year, and Yemen has negligible air assets of its own. The US also quickly said it was "fairly certain" that Awlaki is dead, implying some inside knowledge of the situation. The US had tried and failed to kill Awlaki with drone strikes in the past. Awlaki would appear to be the first US citizen to fall at the hands of a targeted killing from the government since what the "global war on terror" started 10 years ago. He became a particular target for the US after Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan murdered 12 of his comrades in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009. Major Hassan had been in email contact with Awlaki, and the preacher has been cited as an inspiration for Hassan's attack. US officials said Awlaki had also met with failed underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian who sought to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in December of 2009.

The value of Awlaki

The importance of Awlaki to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is debatable. The group itself has become of particular concern to the US, particularly after it took credit for smuggling two bombs onto cargo planes bound from Yemen to the US in October 2010. The bombs were found and defused on a layover in the UK. But Awlaki's main value has been in propaganda (thanks in part to the publicity created by America's public focus on him) and in his presumed ability to reach out to an English-speaking Muslim audience – individuals who, Washington worries, are better able to blend into the communities they aimed to attack. In recent years, he's been the driving force behind the Al Qaeda's English-language magazine "Inspire."

In testimony before Congress in February, director of the National Counterterrorism Center Michael Leiter said "I actually consider al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, with Awlaki as a leader within that organization, probably the most significant risk to the US homeland. I'm hesitant to rank them too carefully – but certainly up there." As for Awlaki himself, Leiter said: "He certainly is the most well-known English speaking ideologue who is speaking directly to folks here in the homeland. There are several others who we're concerned with, but I think Awlaki probably does have the greatest audience on the Internet and the like."

Awlaki's path
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Al-Awlaki's Death Leaves Gap in al-Qaida
September 30, 2011 - The death of a senior al-Qaida figure by a U.S. air strike in Yemen leaves a gap in the senior ranks of what counterterrorism officials say is the most lethal of the group's franchises, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). But how significant a gap is open to question. Was Anwar al-Awlaki primarily an inspirational figure to would-be jihadists? Or did he play a significant operational role for the group as well?

Former CIA director Michael Hayden says the death of Anwar al-Awlaki is significant, but not as significant as the death of Osama bin Laden. In an interview with VOA, Hayden says Awlaki's death will not have great operational impact on al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula because his primary role was as an inspirational figure. "It's a big deal," said Hayden. "And if you regard, as I do, the most serious current threat to be the self-radicalized, one-off, low-threshold person legitimately inside the United States, this undercuts that effort over the long term because he truly was an inspirational figure. But in terms of making al-Qaida shudder as an organization, this isn't in the same league as bin Laden."

With his flawless, idiom-laden English skills, the American-born Islamic cleric could reach disaffected young Muslims in the West and inspire them to mount attacks. It was a skill precious to al-Qaida as it sought to ramp up attacks on Western targets, but found itself increasingly constrained by Western counterterrorism efforts. But Hayden points out that Awlaki was viewed in the U.S. as more significant than he actually was because of his background. "He was an American," said Hayden. "He knew our jargon and knew our culture, could relate to people here. And because of that - how to put this? It was much easier for us to understand the threat coming from him because of who he was and his background, if you know what I mean. It's almost a natural that he floats to the top in the broad popular coverage of the threat, because he was easier for us to talk about, easier for us to explain, easier for us to focus on."

An analysis by the private intelligence firm, Stratfor, cautions against overstating Awlaki's role in AQAP. It points out that he was not the group's leader - that post is held by Nasir al-Wahayshi - and was not even the group's primary religious leader. But Michael Leiter, who until earlier this year was chief of America's National Counterterrorism Center, disagrees on Awlaki's significance. In a separate VOA interview, Leiter says Awlaki played a very large part in planning AQAP's operations. He points to Awlaki's pivotal role in such plots at trying to blow up an aircraft over Detroit on December 25, 2009, and a plan to plant bombs on U.S.-bound cargo planes as evidence that his death will have a profound impact on AQAP operationally as well as ideologically.

"I think it's significant on both the operational and inspirational front," said Leiter. "First and foremost, Anwar al-Awlaki was in fact the chief of external operations for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He had planned and directed attacks against the U.S., most notably the failed Christmas Day attack, and then the plot to attack two cargo planes. And his loss in that sense is very, very significant." Leiter says Awlaki's American background made him operationally creative, thinking up plots aimed at harming America psychologically as well as physically, and seeking to obtain weapons of mass destruction. "He was quite imaginative," Leiter added. "And he also understood American psychology in a way that led him to try attacks that I think he understood would be particularly terrorizing. So he was both imaginative and also insightful in many ways."

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Uncle Meat · Oct 2, 2011

Killing their own citizens, without giving them a trial.

The US really is a disgrace.

MegadethFan · Oct 8, 2011

waltky said: ↑

Granny says, "Dat's right - put a Hellfire missile up their wazoo an' dat'll take care of `em...

Two U.S.-Born Terrorists Killed in CIA-Led Drone Strike
September 30, 2011 | Senior Al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki and another America-born militant were killed in Yemen early Friday morning by a CIA-led U.S. drone strike, marking the highest-profile takedown of terror leaders since the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound.

See also:

Obama: U.S.-born cleric's death 'major blow to al-Qaeda'
30 Sept.`11 : President Obama on Friday declared the killing of a fiery American-born cleric a "major blow to al-Qaeda's most active affiliate" and vowed a vigorous U.S. campaign to prevent the terror network and its partners from finding a haven anywhere in the world.
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I prefer a fair trial.

Albert Di Salvo · Oct 8, 2011

MegadethFan said: ↑

I prefer a fair trial.
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The American criminal justice system can't deal effectively with conduct which is quasi-criminal and quasi-war. It's more efficient to kill than to capture. That explains Obama's drone war.

waltky · Sep 4, 2013

No real success yet in quest to develop counter-drone strategy...

U.S. documents detail al-Qaedas efforts to fight back against drones
Sep 4, 2013 > Al-Qaedas leadership has assigned cells of engineers to find ways to shoot down, jam or remotely hijack U.S. drones, hoping to exploit the technological vulnerabilities of a weapons system that has inflicted huge losses upon the terrorist network, according to top-secret U.S. intelligence documents.

Although there is no evidence that al-Qaeda has forced a drone crash or interfered with flight operations, U.S. intelligence officials have closely tracked the groups persistent efforts to develop a counterdrone strategy since 2010, the documents show. Al-Qaeda commanders are hoping a technological breakthrough can curb the U.S. drone campaign, which has killed an estimated 3,000 people over the past decade. The airstrikes have forced (*)al-Qaeda operatives and other militants to take extreme measures to limit their movements in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and other places. But the drone attacks have also taken a heavy toll on civilians, generating a bitter popular backlash against U.S. policies toward those countries.

Details of al-Qaedas efforts to fight back against U.S. drones are contained in a classified intelligence report obtained by The Washington Post.

Details of al-Qaedas attempts to fight back against the drone campaign are contained in a classified intelligence report provided to The Washington Post by Edward Snowden, the fugitive former National Security Agency contractor. The top-secret report, titled Threats to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, is a summary of dozens of intelligence assessments posted by U.S. spy agencies since 2006. U.S. intelligence analysts noted in their assessments that information about drone operational systems is available in the public realm. But The Post is withholding some detailed portions of the classified material that could shed light on specific weaknesses of certain aircraft.

Under President Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush, drones have revolutionized warfare and become a pillar of the U.S. governments counterterrorism strategy, enabling the CIA and the military to track down enemies in some of the remotest parts of the planet. Drone strikes have left al-Qaedas core leadership in Pakistan scrambling to survive. U.S. spy agencies have concluded that al-Qaeda faces substantial challenges in devising an effective way to attack drones, according to the top-secret report disclosed by Snowden. Still, U.S. officials and aviation experts acknowledge that unmanned aircraft have a weak spot: the satellite links and remote controls that enable pilots to fly them from thousands of miles away.

In July 2010, a U.S. spy agency intercepted electronic communications indicating that senior al-Qaeda leaders had distributed a strategy guide to operatives around the world advising them how to anticipate and defeat unmanned aircraft. The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) reported that al-Qaeda was sponsoring simultaneous research projects to develop jammers to interfere with GPS signals and infrared tags that drone operators rely on to pinpoint missile targets. Other projects in the works included the development of observation balloons and small radio-controlled aircraft, or hobby planes, which insurgents apparently saw as having potential for monitoring the flight patterns of U.S. drones, according to the report.

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CaptainAngryPants · Sep 19, 2013

Good riddance.

highlander · Dec 28, 2013

Albert Di Salvo said: ↑

The American criminal justice system can't deal effectively with conduct which is quasi-criminal and quasi-war. It's more efficient to kill than to capture. That explains Obama's drone war.
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Bollocks!
Thank god for the rule of law, you know, that thing that keeps idiots and morons in check!
You should know all about that them!
You don't have justice system, well one that serves justice.
Rather a system that revokes your rights and forwards emotional responses from idiots.
One 14 year old child murdered by your degenerates, just like the thousands that were before in illegal warmongering.
Only in America, that statement is totally understood world wide, apart from America, wonder why?

Highlander

- - - Updated - - -

CaptainAngryPants said: ↑

Good riddance.
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Aaah... In the name of The wee man!
Can you not do any better?

Highlander

highlander · Dec 28, 2013

http://www.presstv.com/detail/2013/12/28/342404/us-congress-must-not-cede-war-power/
But then, if the senators are owned by AIPAC elected by AIPAC, follows the lead of AIPAC, what would you expect to happen!
Another genocidal war, only this time no one knows the repercussions for the world or what's left of it!

regards
highlander

Riot · Dec 28, 2013

At least this time Obama didn't kill any babies or small children like normally. But than again he lied about all the ones that died from drones so far. Maybe there were some babies killed. Who knows the way Obama lies about his drones strikes. Double tapping. 200 kids killed in Afghanistan alone. But he tells us not a single innocent person killed by drones. This man can't tell the truth to save his life.

highlander · Dec 28, 2013

Riot said: ↑

At least this time Obama didn't kill any babies or small children like normally. But than again he lied about all the ones that died from drones so far. Maybe there were some babies killed. Who knows the way Obama lies about his drones strikes. Double tapping. 200 kids killed in Afghanistan alone. But he tells us not a single innocent person killed by drones. This man can't tell the truth to save his life.
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Problem is.... One one cares, until its them that's suffering, then.... It's too late.
Reap what you sow.

Regards
Highlander

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