Attack on Awlaki

The lead article in today’s New York Times, “C.I.A. Strike Kills U.S.-Born Militant in a Car in Yemen,” portrays another successful strike by the Obama administration against Al Qaeda. This time the victim was a fiery cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who started preaching in mosques in the United States while he was in college. Born to two Yemeni parents, he returned to the country of his ancestry in 2004 to begin preaching fiery sermons against the United States.

President Obama called him head of external operations for AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), an affiliate of Al Qaeda that intelligence officials judged more potent than the parent organization in Afghanistan and Pakistan. AQAP and Mr. Awlaki were responsible for the attempted Christmas-Day bombing and inspired both the Fort Hood and Times Square incidents.

Some on the far left questioned whether Mr. Awlaki should have been afforded a trial since he was an American citizen, but he declared himself an enemy combatant and specifically forswore any allegiance to the United States in a very public manner. In addition, he was actively involved in plotting attacks against the United States.

So President Obama has chalked up another victory against a senior Al Qaeda figure, and even the Republicans have given him credit for it.