more remote US murders by drone

[Eugen Leitl]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/world/middleeast/anwar-al-awlaki-is-killed-in-yemen.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=print

September 30, 2011

U.S.-Born Qaeda Leader Killed in Yemen

By LAURA KASINOF, MARK MAZZETTI and ALAN COWELL

SANA, Yemen b A missile fired from an American drone aircraft in Yemen on
Friday killed Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric who was a
leading figure in Al Qaedabs affiliate there, according to an official in
Washington.

Many of the details of the strike were unclear, but the official said that
the drone fired a Hellfire missile and killed Mr. Awlaki, whom the United
States had been hunting in Yemen for more than two years.

Yemenbs Defense Ministry confirmed Mr. Awlakibs death, and both Yemeni and
American officials hailed the strike as a significant success in the campaign
to weaken Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group American officials
believe to be the most dangerous Qaeda affiliate.

The Obama administration has escalated military and intelligence operations
in Yemen, and the White House decision to make Mr. Awlaki a top priority to
be hunted down and killed was controversial, given his American citizenship.

Born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, Mr. Awlaki, 40, began preaching in
mosques while a college student in the United States. During that time, as a
preacher in San Diego, he met two of the Sept. 11, 2001 attackers. He
returned to Yemen in 2004 and his English-language sermons became ever more
stridently anti-American.

His Internet lectures and sermons were linked to more than a dozen terrorist
investigations in the United States, Britain and Canada. Maj. Nidal Malik
Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood
in Texas in 2009, had exchanged e-mails with Mr. Awlaki before the shootings.
Faisal Shahzad, who tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square in May 2010,
cited Mr. Awlaki as an inspiration.

A Defense Ministry statement said that a number of Mr. Awlakibs bodyguards
were also killed.

A high-ranking Yemeni security official who spoke on condition of anonymity
said that Mr. Awlaki was killed while traveling between Marib and al-Jawf
provinces in northern Yemen b areas known for having a Qaeda presence and
where there is very little central government control.

A senior administration official in Washington said the killing of Mr. Awlaki
was important because he had become Al Qaedabs greatest English-language
propagandist and one of its top operational planners.

bFirst and foremost, webve been looking at his important operational role,b
the official said. bTo the extent hebs no longer playing that role itbs all
to the good.b

President Obamabs top national security and counterterrorism officials held a
video teleconference at 6:30 a.m. Washington time to discuss details of Mr.
Awlakibs death as well as its impact on the Al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen and
the groupbs broader organization.

Mr. Awlakibs name has been associated with many plots in the United States
and elsewhere after individuals planning violence were drawn to his engaging
lectures broadcast over the Internet.

Those individuals included Major Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the
shootings at Fort Hood in which 13 people were killed; the young men who
planned to attack Fort Dix, N.J.; and a 21-year-old British student who told
the police she stabbed a member of Parliament after watching 100 hours of
Awlaki videos.

But his death could also play into the tangled politics of Yemen, where
beleaguered President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been resisting months of
protests against his 30-year rule, arguing in part that he is a critical
American ally in the war against Al Qaeda.

In early September, the Obama administrationbs top counterterrorism adviser,
John O. Brennan, said recent cooperation with Yemen was better than it has
ever been despite the prolonged absence of Mr. Saleh, who returned recently
after four months in Saudi Arabia recovering from wounds he suffered in a
bomb attack on his presidential palace.

President Salehbs family controls the armed forces responsible for
counterterrorism, and the killing of Mr. Awlaki seemed likely to be used to
further the argument that the current government is the best ally for the
United States when it comes to combating Mr. Awlakibs affiliate group, Al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

bAwlaki may not matter much to Yemenis, but his presence in Yemen has
influenced U.S. counter terrorism policy, which in turn has influenced
transition politics,b said Ginny Hill, the head of the Yemen Forum at Chatham
House in London.

A senior American military official in Washington said Mr. Awlakibs death
will send an important message to the surviving leaders and foot soldiers in
Al Qaeda, both in Yemen and elsewhere. bItbs critically important,b the
senior official said. bIt sets a sense of doom for the rest of them. Getting
Awlaki, given his tight operational security, increases the sense of fear.
Itbs hard for them to attack when theybre trying to protect their own back
side.b

bYou take out someone like this, it sends a message,b the military official
continued. bNow they have to go into a succession effort that will cause a
movement of people, of messages, which makes them more vulnerable. Bottom
line, theybve taken a severe impact.b

But some Islamist figures said Mr. Awlakibs status could be elevated to that
of a martyr. Anjem Choudhury, an outspoken Islamic scholar in London, said:
bThe death of Sheikh Anwar al-Awlaki will merely motivate the Muslim youth to
struggle harder against the enemies of Islam and Muslims.b He added: bI would
say his death has made him more popular.b

Representative Peter T. King, a New York Republican who heads the House
Homeland Security Committee, said in a telephone interview: bIn many ways,
Awlaki was, operationally, more important than Bin Laden.b

bClearly, he was one of the most motivated to attack the United States.b

Mr. King warned that the United States would need to guard against
retaliatory attacks from Al Qaedabs arm in Yemen, but other senior American
military and counterterrorism officials said that, unless a plot was already
well under way, the Qaeda affiliate is likely to be in too much disarray
right now to launch an immediate counterstrike.

Earlier this year, the American military renewed its campaign of airstrikes
in Yemen, using drone aircraft and fighter jets to attack Qaeda militants.
One of the attacks was aimed at Mr. Awlaki. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta
said in July that two of his top goals were to remove Ayman al-Zawahri, Al
Qaedabs new leader after the death of Osama Bin Laden in May, and Mr. Awlaki.

Word of the killing came after months of sustained American efforts to
seriously weaken the terrorist group.

In August an American official said a drone strike killed Atiyah Abd
al-Rahman, a Libyan who in the last year had taken over as Al Qaedabs top
operational planner after Bin Laden was killed.

In July, Mr. Panetta said during a visit to Kabul, Afghanistan that the
United States was bwithin reach of strategically defeating Al Qaedab and that
the American focus had narrowed to capturing or killing 10 to 20 crucial
leaders of the terrorist group in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

A month earlier, an American official said the Central Intelligence Agency
was building a secret air base in the Middle East to serve as a launching pad
for strikes in Yemen using armed drones.

The construction of the base was seen at the time a sign that the Obama
administration was planning an extended war in Yemen against Al Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula, which has repeatedly tried to carry out terrorist plots
against the United States.

The American official would not disclose the country where the C.I.A. base
was being built, but the official said that it would most likely be completed
by the end of the year.

Last year, the leader of Al Qaedabs affiliate in Yemen sought to install Mr.
Awlaki as the leader of the group, which apparently thought Mr. Awlakibs
knowledge of the United States and his status as an Internet celebrity might
help the groupbs operations and fund-raising efforts.

Mr. Awlaki, who came from a prestigious Yemeni family, was accused of having
connections to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian former engineering
student at University College London, who is awaiting trial in the United
States for his attempt to detonate explosives sewn into his underwear aboard
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it landed in Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009. The
bomb did not explode.

Mr. Awlaki has been linked to numerous plots against the United States,
including the botched underwear bombing.

He has taken to the Internet with stirring battle cries directed at young
American Muslims. bMany of your scholars,b Mr. Awlaki warned last year, are
bstanding between you and your duty of jihad.b

In Yemen, there was a muted reaction to the news of the death of Mr. Awlaki,
who derived his importance from his ability to reach out to the Western,
English-speaking world but was of little consequence to the Yemeni
population.

Many saw the killing as confirmation of their belief that the United States
becomes involved in Yemen only for counterterrorism. Mr. Awlakibs death comes
at a time when Yemeni protesters, who have been demonstrating against their
government for eight months, are angry at the United States for not doing
more to push President Saleh out of office.

Further, if it is confirmed that Mr. Awlaki was killed by a American drone
strike, it will likely further harm the image of the United States among
average Yemenis, who are staunchly against outside military intervention in
their country.

Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, Mark Mazzetti from Washington, and
Alan Cowell from London. Eric Schmitt contributed reporting from Washington,
and Souad Mekhennet from New York.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: September 30, 2011

An earlier version of this article said that Yemeni forces had carried out
the attack. The circumstances of the operation remain unclear.