Obama: Yemen strike a "major blow" to al-Qaeda

By Frank Fuhrig Sep 30, 2011, 16:44 GMT

Washington - US President Barack Obama said Friday that an airstrike in Yemen that killed militant preacher Anwar al-Awlaki was a 'major blow to al-Qaeda's most active operational affiliate.'

The US-born al-Awlaki, a US-Yemeni dual citizen, was killed along with several associates, the Yemeni Defence Ministry said Friday.

Al-Awlaki is believed to be the spiritual leader of the Yemeni local branch of the terrorist network, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

He had led several mosques in the US and his connections to the September 11, 2001 hijackers was questioned after he met with some of them at a San Diego mosque.

The mosque in the Washington suburbs where al-Awlaki was an imam in 2001, said in a statement that he had been known for his interfaith efforts and tolerance while serving there and became radicalized after leaving the congregation in 2002.

He 'encouraged impressionable American-Muslims to attack their own country ... al-Awlaki will no longer spread his hate speech over the internet to Muslim youth provoking them to engage in violence against Americans,' the statement said.

Obama noted al-Awlaki's 'hateful ideology' and connections to a series of attacks and attempted attacks on the United States. He emphasized that al-Awlaki and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula have also attacked people of other countries and were 'directly responsible for the deaths of many Yemeni citizens.'

Obama said: 'Make no mistake: this is further proof that al-Qaeda and its affiliates will find no safe haven anywhere in the world.

'We will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans, and to build a world in which people everywhere can live in greater peace, prosperity and security.'

Obama spoke during a handover ceremony for retiring Admiral Mike Mullen, the highest-ranking US military officer, and his successor as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army General Martin Dempsey.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a non-governmental organization that lobbies for civil rights, pointed out that the US government never charged al-Awlaki with a crime.

'The targeted killing programme violates both US and international law,' ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer said.

'As we've seen today, this is a programme 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 said that the government's authority to apply lethal force against US citizens should be limited to cases where 'the threat to life is concrete, specific and imminent.'

No president should have 'unreviewable power' to kill a citizen deemed to pose a threat to the country, Jaffer said.

Frances Townsend, who was homeland security advisor to former president George W Bush, said that al-Awlaki's dual citizenship did not give him immunity to declare war against the United States and ally himself with the country's enemies without consequences.

'No one should be able to use their citizenship as a shield,' she told broadcaster CNN.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said that Obama was notified of al-Awlaki's death early Friday and later received a full briefing. Carney refused to discuss the circumstances of al-Awlaki's death but insisted that the action was justified.

'He was very demonstrably and provably involved in operational aspects of (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula),' Carney said.

Carney refused to answer questions about how US officials confirmed al-Awlaki's death.

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