Al-Qaeda chief Awlaki ‘killed in Yemen’
As a US drone strike in Yemen kills cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a leading al-Qaeda figure, Channel 4 News assesses his influence on terror attacks in the UK and abroad.
He was a radical Yemeni preacher linked to attacks, from the stabbing of a Labour MP to the attempt to blow up planes with explosives sewn into underwear.
But Anwar al-Awlaki was also a US citizen, and it was a US drone attack that killed him. Barack Obama, who ordered the killing using an unmanned drone, called it “another significant milestone” in defeating al-Qaeda.
Channel 4 News Washington Correspondent Matt Frei told Krishnan Guru-Murthy today’s drone attack was the latest in a continuing trend. “This year alone,” he said, “60 drone attacks already.” Three out of five significant al-Qaeda figures have now been killed using drones.”
And he explained that Awlaki would not have been killed without the Yemeni authorities helping the CIA. So far the Yemenis have refused to help the CIA, who have wanted to kill him for several years.
Today’s change of heart by Yemen is a reflection of the turbulence in the country. President Saleh, who has recently returned from Saudi Arabia, believes that Awlaki’s death helps him politically.
By contrast, US President Obama gains little political credit from today’s killing, according to Matt Frei. “The bar has already been set incredibly high by the killing of Osama bin Laden,” he said.
‘Killed with his companions’
Announcing Awlaki’s death, Yemen’s defence ministry said: “The terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed along with some of his companions,” it said in a statement sent by text message to journalists, but gave no details.
A Yemeni security official said Awlaki, who is of Yemeni descent, was hit in an air raid and said those killed with him were suspected al-Qaeda members.
US officials, confirming Awlaki’s death, said the preacher had been under observation for three weeks while the military waited for the right opportunity to strike. He was killed in a strike on his convoy.
Last July, the US Treasury Secretary placed Awlaki on a hit list after formally labelling him a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.
Awlaki’s father, Nasser, a senior politician in Yemen, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Constitutional Rights (CCR), sued Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner over the decision, but the case was thrown out.
Awlaki’s father had argued that Awlaki had the right to a trial and killing him would be illegal.
Dr Awlaki could not be reached, but ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer criticised the killing.
“The targeted killing program violates both US and international law,” he told Channel 4 News.
“As we’ve seen today, this is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process, and on the basis of standards and evidence that are kept secret not just from the public but from the courts.
He added: “It is a mistake to invest the President – any President – with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to present a threat to the country.”
7/7 influence
Reports say two of the 7 July bombers, Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, were found to have transcribed lectures of al-Awlaki during preparations to carry out a series of attacks on the London Underground and buses, and his audio sermons were readily available in the bookshops that the pair visited in Leeds.
In November, 2009, in what became the worst shooting ever to take place on a US military base, army psychologist Nidal Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at Fort Hood, Texas. In the months leading up to the massacre, Hasan exchanged around 20 emails with Awlaki asking for spiritual guidance on the matter of violence.
Following the incident, Awlaki posted a blog, “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing”, in which he calls the gunman a “hero”.
His internet sermons also inspired Roshonara Choudhry to stab east London Labour MP Stephen Timms.
Presumably at the same time, as he was contacting Hassan, Awlaki is believed to have recruited London-based Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian found guilty of attempting to blow up an airliner as it flew from London into Detroit on 25 December 2009.
Months later, Bangladesh-born British Airways employee Rajib Karim was arrested and eventually convicted of plotting a “spectacular” airplane bombing.
It was found he had travelled to Yemen to meet Awlaki in 2009, and had thereafter exchanged emails with him. In one, Awlaki asked: “Is it possible to get a package or a person with a package on board a flight heading to the US?”
His internet sermons also inspired Roshonara Choudhry to stab east London Labour MP Stephen Timms for supporting the Iraq war. Asked by detectives what inspired her to the act, she said: “I’ve been listening to lectures by Anwar al-Awlaki”.
US officials have indicated that Faisal Shahzad, a naturalized American citizen from Pakistan who attempted to detonate a car bomb in Times Square on 1 May, 2010, told investigators he was influenced by Awlaki.
In October lat year, two devices hidden in printer cartridges and containing the powerful explosive pentaerythritol trinitrate (PETN), were found on cargo planes at East Midlands airport and in Dubai on Friday. Both packages were addressed to synagogues in Chicago, and Awlaki was believed to be the mastermind behind the plot.
Awlaki was sentenced in absentia – along with two other men – to ten years in prison by a Yemeni security court in January, accuseed of being members of al-Qaeda and plotting to kill foreigners.
