Yemen defense ministry: Radical American imam killed U.S. officials believe Anwar al-Awlaki built a substantial following in West through English-language postings on Internet
SANAA, Yemen — An American radical cleric linked to al-Qaida who led an organization labeled as one of the most serious threats to U.S. security has been killed in Yemen, the country's defense ministry said on Friday.
"The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions," the defense ministry said in a statement sent by text message to journalists, Reuters reported.
Awlaki, who is of Yemeni descent, was hit in an air raid and those killed with him were suspected al-Qaida members, a Yemeni security official told The Associated Press.
New Mexico-born Awlaki had been implicated in the botched Christmas Day so-called underwear bombing attempt on a U.S.-bound plane in 2009. U.S. authorities have branded him a "global terrorist" but Sanaa had previously appeared reluctant to act against him.
Al-Awlaki was at the helm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which was also thought to have been behind the plot to send printer cartridges packed with explosives to the U.S.
After thinking about this a bit, I seem to remember all the flack about not giving terrorists their rights, holding them at Gitmo, and not wanting to bring them to the US for civilian style trials. But today, it is ok (and I agree) to fly an unmanned judge, jury, and executioner over the heads of terrorists and take them out with the push of a button. This was even done to a US citizen. I'll be waiting for Code Pink and the ACLU to chime in and condemn this action so they can show their consistency.
The left is angry because they are now being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
CriticalBill wrote: After thinking about this a bit, I seem to remember all the flack about not giving terrorists their rights, holding them at Gitmo, and not wanting to bring them to the US for civilian style trials. But today, it is ok (and I agree) to fly an unmanned judge, jury, and executioner over the heads of terrorists and take them out with the push of a button. This was even done to a US citizen. I'll be waiting for Code Pink and the ACLU to chime in and condemn this action so they can show their consistency.
If we take literally the statement that this is a "war on terror"....or a war on terrorists, that is probably all the justification we need to take out a known terrorist.......really....no one on the battle field asks the person shooting at them if they are the enemy, or requires permission from the courts to take out a house where terrorists are expected to be.....I do wonder if we would carry out this kind of operation on US soil. Could we, or should we? Trust me, I'm no pacifist when it comes to protecting my country...I much prefer covert operations than troops on the ground though, it makes for less collateral damage and gets the job done nice and neat.
Is this man really a terrorist? Based on what I have read about him, he seems more a motivational speaker for radical Islam than a terrorist ringleader....
Just kidding, good shoot.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
