Five years ago today, American-born al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was traveling between dusty towns in Yemen in a two-car convoy when a pair of Hellfire missiles launched from Predator drones ended his life and the lives of everyone in his small entourage.
The killing of al-Awlaki, a New Mexico native, without charges or trial, on Sept. 30, 2011, remains one of the most controversial counter-terrorism operations since 9/11. The U.S. government contends that in addition to his propaganda that fueled lethal plots the world over, al-Awlaki was directly involved in operational planning for al-Qaeda and was therefore an “imminent threat.”
Killing him should have ended that threat. But then earlier this month, a young man who allegedly planted a series of bombs in New York and New Jersey was found with journal in which he apparently had written that it was al-Awlaki who told him to do it.
“I looked for guidance and [praise be to God] guidance came. Sheikh Anwar [al-Awlaki,] Brother Adnani … said it clearly attack the kuffar [unbelievers] in their backyard,” a journal purportedly belonging to bombing suspect Ahmad Rahami says, also referring to the late ISIS spokesperson Abu Muhammad al-Adnani. – READ MORE
