Another One Bites the Dust

[SayItAintSoJoe]

SANAA, Yemen — Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born radical cleric linked to al-Qaida who led an organization labeled as one of the most serious threats to U.S. security, was killed by an airstrike in Yemen Friday, according to the country's defense ministry and U.S. officials.

 

"The terrorist ... has been killed along with some of his companions," the Yemen defense ministry said in a statement sent by text message to journalists, Reuters reported.

 

A Yemeni security official told Reuters that al-Awlaki, who is of Yemeni descent, was hit in a Friday morning air raid in the northern al-Jawf province that borders oil giant Saudi Arabia.

 

He said four others killed with him were suspected al-Qaida members.

 

NBC News reported that U.S. officials had confirmed that an unmanned American drone had launched the airstrike. A U.S. drone aircraft targeted but missed him in May.

 

"For the past several years, al-Awlaki has been more dangerous even than Osama bin Laden had been. The killing of al-Awlaki is a tremendous tribute to President Obama and the men and women of our intelligence community," he added.

 

King, however, warned that "we must remain as vigilant as ever, knowing that there are more Islamic terrorists who will gladly step forward to backfill this dangerous killer."

 

Al-Awlaki was considered such a threat to the U.S. that the Obama administration took the unprecendented step of putting him, an American, on the U.S. military's and CIA's "kill or capture" target list.

 

U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that the fact he was an American made him an even more insidious threat.

 

"As an American he knows how we think, how we react, and how to push all our buttons," one told NBC News.

 

[SEC=UGA]

Good riddance.

[Chargerz]

Good riddance.

+1

[tosberg34]

sweet. We should start some Terrorist Dead Pool here at the Huddle. Anyone game?

[CowboyGal2011]

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is condemning the Obama administration for killing an American born al-Qaida operative without a trial.

 

Paul, a Texas congressman known for libertarian views, says the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki on Yemeni soil amounts to an "assassination."

[Hugh 0ne]

Anyone condemning this should be sent to f*cking Yemen.

[Hugh 0ne]

I pretty much think his American Citizenship was terminated when he decided to move to the Middle East, bunker up in caves with other grown, unshaven, dirty men and finger bang goats for fun.

[detlef]

I pretty much think his American Citizenship was terminated when he decided to move to the Middle East, bunker up in caves with other grown, unshaven, dirty men and finger bang goats for fun.

Let's leave Spain out of this.

[CowboyGal2011]

Imam Anwar Al-Awlaki, spiritual leader at the Dar al-Hijra mosque in Virginia, one of the nation's largest, which draws about 3,000 worshipers for communal prayers each Friday, said: ''In the past we were oblivious. We didn't really care much because we never expected things to happen. Now I think things are different. What we might have tolerated in the past, we won't tolerate any more.''

 

''There were some statements that were inflammatory, and were considered just talk, but now we realize that talk can be taken seriously and acted upon in a violent radical way,'' said Mr. Al-Awlaki, who at 30 is held up as a new generation of Muslim leader capable of merging East and West: born in New Mexico to parents from Yemen, who studied Islam in Yemen and civil engineering at Colorado State University.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/us/natio...?pagewanted=all

 

The Washington Post reported on the Dar al-Hijrah mosque 30 times from Sept. 11, 1983, to Sept. 11, 2001, and the big news stories about the prayer center were its popular summer camp, its charitable activities and its joyful celebrations of Muslim holidays.

 

But to federal investigators and watchdog groups, the big news about the Dar al-Hijrah mosque was that it was a magnet for some of the top names in terrorism - most recently including the Sept. 11 hijackers and the Fort Hood shooter.

 

The mosque's former imam, Anwar Al Awlaki has been tied to numerous terror attacks in the U.S., and is now serving as a top Al Qaeda leader in Yemen. Al Awlaki will be shot on sight if he is tracked down by the U.S. military, under an order given by President Obama this past April.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/alana-goodman...r#ixzz1ZTFORjzV

 

Awlaki, whose killing by drone President Obama approved last year, was the better known of the two. Among other things, as FoxNews.com reports, he "exchanged up to 20 emails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, alleged killer of 13 people in the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at Fort Hood." He also inspired or helped plan "the botched Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up an American airliner heading to Detroit and a foiled 2010 attempt to send explosives to Chicago," as well as the failed Times Square bombing of 2010.

 

 

Just another 'moderate'. Let's build that 9/11 mosque. lady Hawke, are you with me?

[detlef]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/us/natio...?pagewanted=all

 

 

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/alana-goodman...r#ixzz1ZTFORjzV

 

 

 

 

Just another 'moderate'. Let's build that 9/11 mosque. lady Hawke, are you with me?

So, you're sort of like the Magic 8-ball of right wing rhetoric? Someone just shakes you up and you spit out some random post or phrase?

Edited September 30, 2011 by detlef

[bpwallace49]

I pretty much think his American Citizenship was terminated when he decided to move to the Middle East, bunker up in caves with other grown, unshaven, dirty men and finger bang goats for fun.

 

 

Let's leave Spain out of this.

 

[SayItAintSoJoe]

Ames, Iowa (CNN) - In a break from his anti-President Obama flame-throwing, Newt Gingrich used a campaign appearance Friday to offer rare public praise for the president on the killing of American-born al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

 

"We're going to take out Al Qaeda, the way they just did it in Yemen, where I do give the president credit," Gingrich said at a town hall at Iowa State University on Friday.

 

"Any American, who actively advocates killing Americans, places themselves in our Constitution as a traitor," Gingrich added. "The American who the president authorized killing in Yemen was an enemy combatant. Enemy combatants don't get Miranda rights. I think it's very important that this is a war…the president, in this one area, is right."

 

Well said.

[Ursa Majoris]

By far the most efficient way of keeping the scum on the defensive - drones and special forces. Less expensive, a heck of a lot fewer US deaths and way more successful.

[gilthorp]

From what I read today, backfilling this scumbag won't be easy for them. This is a nice win for us. One of these a week would be nice.

[MrTed46]

I pretty much think his American Citizenship was terminated when he decided to move to the Middle East, bunker up in caves with other grown, unshaven, dirty men and finger bang goats for fun.

 

Unshaven - Check

Dirty man - Check

Finger bang goats for fun - Check

Move to Middle East - Not me

 

 

Phew i'm safe from this

[Big John]

Unshaven - Check

Dirty man - Check

Finger bang goats for fun - Check

Move to Middle East - Not me

 

 

Phew i'm safe from this

Is Greece close enough?

[tazinib1]

Unshaven - Check

Dirty man - Check

Finger bang goats for fun - Check

Move to Middle East - Not me

 

 

Phew i'm safe from this

 

 

You forgot to list an unshaven chick with dirty toes.

[Kid Cid]

Sorry folks, I'll disagree with all y'all. While this person was certain to be put on trial for treason, we cannot just indiscriminately violate the rights of people. We are a nation founded upon and governed by the rule of law. To violate the sovereignty of Yemen and to assassinate another person in the process, especially one of her own citizens, steps way over the line and the United States should be called to task for this action in the world courts.

 

Each and every individual of this country is protected from unreasonable search and seizure and must be afforded due process based on the laws laid down in our Constitution, regardless of the severity of the crime. Each individual is innocent until proven guilty and the accused is afforded the right to be confronted by his of her accuser. Each of those rights was violated in the "name" of safety and security. The United States overreached here. We are not in the assassination business and we should not be wantonly killing people because of any slight against us, real or imagined.

 

The Yemenese government was and is bending over backwards to help us here, they most certainly would have worked with us to arrest this man and bring him to trial. Instead, America is once again a thug willing to disregard the laws of any country it wants in pursuit of some policy that has been framed in back rooms and hidden from the light of day in the name of "National Security". I for one am ashamed of the behavior of this government and the officials that allowed this to happen. I am also somewhat disgusted by the cavalier attitude here with regard to the taking of another person's life.

[Hugh 0ne]

Sorry folks, I'll disagree with all y'all. While this person was certain to be put on trial for treason, we cannot just indiscriminately violate the rights of people. We are a nation founded upon and governed by the rule of law. To violate the sovereignty of Yemen and to assassinate another person in the process, especially one of her own citizens, steps way over the line and the United States should be called to task for this action in the world courts.

 

Each and every individual of this country is protected from unreasonable search and seizure and must be afforded due process based on the laws laid down in our Constitution, regardless of the severity of the crime. Each individual is innocent until proven guilty and the accused is afforded the right to be confronted by his of her accuser. Each of those rights was violated in the "name" of safety and security. The United States overreached here. We are not in the assassination business and we should not be wantonly killing people because of any slight against us, real or imagined.

 

The Yemenese government was and is bending over backwards to help us here, they most certainly would have worked with us to arrest this man and bring him to trial. Instead, America is once again a thug willing to disregard the laws of any country it wants in pursuit of some policy that has been framed in back rooms and hidden from the light of day in the name of "National Security". I for one am ashamed of the behavior of this government and the officials that allowed this to happen. I am also somewhat disgusted by the cavalier attitude here with regard to the taking of another person's life.

 

Wow, what a giant bag of bullsh*t.

[tazinib1]

Kill all them mother burritoers...with passion.

[tazinib1]

Sorry folks, I'll disagree with all y'all. While this person was certain to be put on trial for treason, we cannot just indiscriminately violate the rights of people. We are a nation founded upon and governed by the rule of law. To violate the sovereignty of Yemen and to assassinate another person in the process, especially one of her own citizens, steps way over the line and the United States should be called to task for this action in the world courts.

 

Each and every individual of this country is protected from unreasonable search and seizure and must be afforded due process based on the laws laid down in our Constitution, regardless of the severity of the crime. Each individual is innocent until proven guilty and the accused is afforded the right to be confronted by his of her accuser. Each of those rights was violated in the "name" of safety and security. The United States overreached here. We are not in the assassination business and we should not be wantonly killing people because of any slight against us, real or imagined.

 

The Yemenese government was and is bending over backwards to help us here, they most certainly would have worked with us to arrest this man and bring him to trial. Instead, America is once again a thug willing to disregard the laws of any country it wants in pursuit of some policy that has been framed in back rooms and hidden from the light of day in the name of "National Security". I for one am ashamed of the behavior of this government and the officials that allowed this to happen. I am also somewhat disgusted by the cavalier attitude here with regard to the taking of another person's life.

 

Sorry bro...I understand your logic. But....I'm a military man....I don't give one iota taco about those burritoing crimimals. String them by the balls is what i say. Fair judgement? tell that to the families of 9/11

[detlef]

Sorry folks, I'll disagree with all y'all. While this person was certain to be put on trial for treason, we cannot just indiscriminately violate the rights of people. We are a nation founded upon and governed by the rule of law. To violate the sovereignty of Yemen and to assassinate another person in the process, especially one of her own citizens, steps way over the line and the United States should be called to task for this action in the world courts.

 

Each and every individual of this country is protected from unreasonable search and seizure and must be afforded due process based on the laws laid down in our Constitution, regardless of the severity of the crime. Each individual is innocent until proven guilty and the accused is afforded the right to be confronted by his of her accuser. Each of those rights was violated in the "name" of safety and security. The United States overreached here. We are not in the assassination business and we should not be wantonly killing people because of any slight against us, real or imagined.

 

The Yemenese government was and is bending over backwards to help us here, they most certainly would have worked with us to arrest this man and bring him to trial. Instead, America is once again a thug willing to disregard the laws of any country it wants in pursuit of some policy that has been framed in back rooms and hidden from the light of day in the name of "National Security". I for one am ashamed of the behavior of this government and the officials that allowed this to happen. I am also somewhat disgusted by the cavalier attitude here with regard to the taking of another person's life.

I think there is something out of date with respect to honoring sovereign nations and such like that. Specific borders are becoming rather arbitrary. One can't exactly declare war on Al Queda, because they're not a country. But that's who we would have declared war on if it were technically possible. So, that's who would have to surrender if we were going to call off the dogs. But they obviously haven't. And, just because this foe happens to be sprinkled around various countries, doesn't change the fact that they're at war with us and we should be at war with them.

 

Hell, it would have been vastly more responsible for us to have just started hunting Al Queda leaders down from the outset and not wasted a bunch of lives and money fighting Iraq.

 

This is not about "they fight dirty, so we have to as well". It's about, "we're at war with what is essentially a borderless state, so we need to be able to hunt them down wherever they may be."

 

If Al Queda was a country instead of a group, there would be nothing to discuss. We'd declare war on them and take them out. I guess I'm just not going to get hung up on a technicality.

 

I also don't think this sets some precedent that means it's now cool to go into any old country that we're not at war with and take out some prominent national.

[Kid Cid]

I think there is something out of date with respect to honoring sovereign nations and such like that. Specific borders are becoming rather arbitrary. One can't exactly declare war on Al Queda, because they're not a country. But that's who we would have declared war on if it were technically possible. So, that's who would have to surrender if we were going to call off the dogs. But they obviously haven't. And, just because this foe happens to be sprinkled around various countries, doesn't change the fact that they're at war with us and we should be at war with them.

 

Hell, it would have been vastly more responsible for us to have just started hunting Al Queda leaders down from the outset and not wasted a bunch of lives and money fighting Iraq.

 

This is not about "they fight dirty, so we have to as well". It's about, "we're at war with what is essentially a borderless state, so we need to be able to hunt them down wherever they may be."

 

If Al Queda was a country instead of a group, there would be nothing to discuss. We'd declare war on them and take them out. I guess I'm just not going to get hung up on a technicality.

 

I also don't think this sets some precedent that means it's now cool to go into any old country that we're not at war with and take out some prominent national.

No, that precedent was set when we violated Pakistan's right as a country to kill bin Laden. That was a far more gray area than this one is though, given the nature of Pakistan's involvement with bin Laden.

 

Let me ask you something. If this person were loose in the United States would we have unleashed the military to take down state governments in order to kill him off? I don't think so. The FBI and state law enforcement would have called to task to bring this person in. Yet because this is happening outside of our borders, we have cheerfully cast our military personnel in this role and let them loose upon the world.

 

This is not so far from the argument against places like Guantanamo Bay. Our government has placed ourselves into the role of the "Worlds Greatest Hypocrite", arguing for laws out of one side of their mouth and then blatantly disregarding them when they feel the need to expedite things.

[MrTed46]

 

You forgot to list an unshaven chick with dirty toes.

 

I need to save whatever dignity I have left so I omitted that one.

[SEC=UGA]

No, that precedent was set when we violated Pakistan's right as a country to kill bin Laden. That was a far more gray area than this one is though, given the nature of Pakistan's involvement with bin Laden.

 

Let me ask you something. If this person were loose in the United States would we have unleashed the military to take down state governments in order to kill him off? I don't think so. The FBI and state law enforcement would have called to task to bring this person in. Yet because this is happening outside of our borders, we have cheerfully cast our military personnel in this role and let them loose upon the world.

 

This is not so far from the argument against places like Guantanamo Bay. Our government has placed ourselves into the role of the "Worlds Greatest Hypocrite", arguing for laws out of one side of their mouth and then blatantly disregarding them when they feel the need to expedite things.

 

Yeah, tell that to the Branch Davidians or the people at Ruby Ridge who were killed while in our country.

 

The guy is dead and I'm elated. No moral or legal argument can sway me otherwise.

Edited October 3, 2011 by SEC=UGA