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Friday, September 30, 2011

Islamist Cleric Killed In Yemen

In this image taken from video and released by SITE Intelligence Group on Monday, Nov. 8, 2010, Anwar al-Awlaki speaks in a video message posted on radical websites. (AP)

In this image taken from video and released by SITE Intelligence Group on Monday, Nov. 8, 2010, Anwar al-Awlaki speaks in a video message posted on radical websites. (AP)

A U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric believed to have helped coordinate and inspire attacks on the U.S. has been killed in Yemen. American and Yemeni officials say the same U.S. military counter-terrorism unit that got Osama bin Laden used a drone and jet strike today to kill Anwar al-Awlaki. It’s the most prominent al-Qaida death since Osama bin Laden’s death in May.

Guest:

  • Evan Perez, reporter on the Justice Department for the Wall Street Journal.
Other stories from Friday's show

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • Heaviest Cat

    This was the most shamefully biased piece of propaganda for the administration, I’ve ever heard on “public” radio. YOu interview Evan Perez of the WSJ then quote Jake Tappert and Andrew Sullivan, two more conservative, status quo voices. Had you included a voice from the Left ,say, Glen Greenwald, you may have heard that there are legal issues surrounding the assassination of an American citizen,however, evil he may have been, by the govt. Furthermore, was he even charged with anything?So is this ‘BUR’s idea of “independent journa;ism”,touted at every fundraiser?

  • BHA in Vermont

    Barak “Speak softly and carry a big stick” Obama

    I, too, am somewhat troubled about a US citizen being assassinated by US forces and agree with  al-Awlaki’s father that he deserved a trial (IMHO: And then shot for treason).

    However I didn’t see the Yemenis hauling him in, I didn’t see his father bringing him in. He certainly wasn’t going to the nearest US Embassy to turn himself in. At some point, the cancer has to be taken out aggressively. His US background made him especially dangerous to HIS country of origin. Especially dangerous to the country and people who gave him every opportunity.  He cared nothing for innocent people.

    Sometimes the ends justify the means.

    • Heaviest Cat

      Hello, BHA,
          Once again, however black-hearted he may have been (I’m no fan of hIm)) I should mention that what else went unmentioned on this pR piece was that he was highly regarded by the US Administrationand the Washington Post, among others. he was originally interested in dialogue across cultures . But  more bombings by the US of Muslim peoples in Iraq , Aghhanistan, along with the vile practiceof “extraorinary rendition”he rightly or wrongly felt driven to violence. Maybe a change in US policies might be the best antidote to theabstract and ambiguous “war on Terror’

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