White House approves assassination of Anwar Al Awlaki

[Blessed]

 

The Obama administration has taken the rare step of authorising the killing of a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical Muslim cleric linked to the attempt to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day.

 

The decision to place Awlaki on a US hit list followed a national security council review because of his status as an American citizen.

 

"Awlaki is a proven threat," a US official told Reuters. "He's being targeted."

 

Born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, Awlaki has been accused of encouraging terrorism in his sermons and writings. He is believed to be in hiding in Yemen's rugged Shabwa or Mareb regions, an area that has become a haven for jihadis. He has been linked to Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, in November, and to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day.

 

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for "targeted killing", officials told the New York Times. A former senior legal official in the Bush administration said he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under the former president.

 

The decision to place Awlaki on a hit list took place this year, the paper said, as US counterterrorism officials judged he had moved beyond inciting attacks against the US – he has a large following among English-speaking Muslims – to participating in them.

 

"The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words," an official told the New York Times. "He's gotten involved in plots."

 

The policy of targeted killings is controversial. President Gerald Ford issued an executive order banning political assassinations in 1976. However, Congress approved the use of military force against al-Qaida after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. People on the target list are considered to be military enemies of the US and therefore not subject to the ban on political assassination.

 

In February, the director of national intelligence, Dennis Blairan, alarmed civil liberties groups when he told Congress that the US may, with executive approval, deliberately target and kill US citizens suspected of being involved in terrorism.

 

Under Obama's watch, the US has stepped up attacks on al-Qaida figures around the world from Somalia to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border through the use of Predator drones or other aircraft. The Pakistani government tacitly permits CIA-operated unmanned aircraft to target terrorist sites and militants up to 50 miles inside the country, and there have been reports of helicopter-borne raids into Pakistani territory.

 

Source

[Blessed]

They've tried to kill him back in December linking him to the Fort Hood attacks. Here's an interview with Al Jazeera.

 

Al Jazeera - Interview Anwar Al Awlaki

[Maaddeey]

ALLAH YAXFATH-HU MIN AYDI AL KAFARATI- AL FAJARA

 

Al Jazeera: The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have quoted CIA investigators as talking about the possibility of targeting you in a drone attack. Why do you think the Americans want to kill you?

 

Awlaki: Because I am a Muslim and I promote Islam. The charge is "incitement"; my relationships with Nidal Hasan, Umar Farouk and some 9/11 attackers, and now I am accused of being linked to 14 cases. All this comes as part of the attempt to liquidate the voices that call for defending the rights of the Umma [Muslim nation].

 

They reject the principle of pride and demanding justice, they want to promote the principle of humiliation and compliance. They want to market the democratic and peaceful US Islam that calls for obeying the superiors even if they were traitors and collaborators, they want an Islam that recognises the occupation and deals with it, they want an Islam that has no sharia ruling, no jihad and no Islamic caliphate.

 

We call for the Islam that was sent by Allah to Prophet Muhammad, the Islam of jihad and sharia ruling. Any voice that calls for this Islam, they either kill the person or the character; they kill the person by murdering or jailing them, or they kill the character by distorting their image in the media.

[Ibtisam]

I don't know about where or what he is now, but Anwar Al Awlaki was one of my favourit plain speaking shikes whose blogs I use to find informative and challenging. I think he is one of the best debaters on Islamic issues, whether you agree with him or not you cannot help respecting his arguments.

 

Have not visited his blog since his fight with Shike Choudrey.

 

May Allah guide him and protect him.

[Cara.]

They've killed people for a lot less. The only tragedy will be the innocents killed while trying to target this nutcase.

[Abyan]

I concur ibtisameey.

 

Im usually one that has a short concentration mode and anwar al awlakis style of lecture makes you want to listen more. I love the piece he did about the lives of the prophets!

 

Sad to hear he's on a hit list

[BUKURR]

Justice must be served, the man tried to kill innocent people, he deserves to be taken away and dragged in courts andd spend the rest of his life behind bars.

[chubacka]

AAA is a knowledable and powerful speaker, when did he become so radical?

 

Ameen @ Ibs, may Allah protect and guide us all.

 

No need for name calling @ Cara.

[Abyan]

^ Good question. Ive listened to his lectures before and it wasn't projecting anything radical.

[Che -Guevara]

Obama is snake with smile but if I was in his shoes, I probably will have issued same decree to liquidate this man.

 

Ibti has became radical Islamist and is now recruiting people

[Ibtisam]

^^Che are you out of your mind. I need to be allowed in and out of countries you know, Please dont spread madness.

[NGONGE]

Don't know much about him. I never listen to English speaking 'sheikhs'.

[Ibtisam]

^^^He speaks Arabic and has many lectures in Arabic too.

[Blessed]

He started talking more about jihaad after his arrest. I don't think speaking of jihaad is radical but he took it a bit too far by praising Umar which is in contradiction with some of his past lectures on rules of jihaad. I could understand his frustration though- 17 women and 23 children of his tribe were killed in December.

 

Ameen@ Ibts. May Allah guides us all.

[Ibtisam]

Umar the Afgani?

 

I objected to him writing letters to AlShabab and playing up the notion that foreign fighters should go and help out in Somalia. Till then I was a big fan.