How a U.S. Citizen Came to Be in America’s Cross Hairs

New York Times ^

[Sub-Driver]

How a U.S. Citizen Came to Be in America’s Cross Hairs By MARK MAZZETTI, CHARLIE SAVAGE and SCOTT SHANE

WASHINGTON — One morning in late September 2011, a group of American drones took off from an airstrip the C.I.A. had built in the remote southern expanse of Saudi Arabia. The drones crossed the border into Yemen, and were soon hovering over a group of trucks clustered in a desert patch of Jawf Province, a region of the impoverished country once renowned for breeding Arabian horses.

A group of men who had just finished breakfast scrambled to get to their trucks. One was Anwar al-Awlaki, the firebrand preacher, born in New Mexico, who had evolved from a peddler of Internet hatred to a senior operative in Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen. Another was Samir Khan, another American citizen who had moved to Yemen from North Carolina and was the creative force behind Inspire, the militant group’s English-language Internet magazine.

Two of the Predator drones pointed lasers on the trucks to pinpoint the targets, while the larger Reapers took aim. The Reaper pilots, operating their planes from thousands of miles away, readied for the missile shots, and fired.

It was the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work, intense deliberation by lawyers working for President Obama and turf fights between the Pentagon and the C.I.A., whose parallel drone wars converged on the killing grounds of Yemen. For what was apparently the first time since the Civil War, the United States government had carried out the deliberate killing of an American citizen as a wartime enemy and without a trial.

[Sub-Driver]

Shut your mouth............

[Travis McGee]

[piytar]

I have no problem with this. Enemy combatants on the ground I unreachable by LEOs. That is completely different from on US soil.

[God luvs America]

i have a problem with the hypocrisy

A group of men who had just finished breakfast scrambled to get to their trucks. One was Anwar al-Awlaki, the firebrand preacher, born in New Mexico, who had evolved from a peddler of Internet hatred to a senior operative in Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen. Another was Samir Khan, another American citizen who had moved to Yemen from North Carolina and was the creative force behind Inspire, the militant group’s English-language Internet magazine.

If Bush was in office he would not be a "peddler of internet hatred" rather the d-bags at the NYSlimes would consider it legitimate gripes against America....

[cripplecreek]

A drone strike could have saved Obama the trouble of those embarrassing Hutaree acquittals.

[cripplecreek]

I think we could use a bit of restraint with the drone strikes overseas as well. Obama has been completely out of control with them.

[Gay State Conservative]

This isn't new...or news.Osama Obama’s DHS stated a couple of years ago that military veterans must be seen as potential domestic enemies.I,personally,assume that the US Government has been able to ascertain my exact location from FR (certainly with no collusion by the FR hierarchy) and has a drone on standby...just in case.

[353FMG]

>Anwar al-Awlaki, the firebrand preacher, born in New Mexico ...... Another was Samir Khan, another American citizen who had moved to Yemen from North Carolina...<

.
America has become the breeding ground for AQ.

[Tzimisce]

Isn’t Obamaland great?

Now go pay your taxes, your government is broke. :)

[USNBandit]

Looks like a valid military target. Just happened to be Americans. Unfortunately, 12 years into this we still don’t have a clear policy of what happens to these freaks if they are captured, or are in the U.S. that will always leave it a political football which misses the main issue. These people want to kill us.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2554068/posts

Treasury Designates Anwar Al-Aulaqi, Key Leader of Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula
TREAS.gov - UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY - TG-779 ^ | July 16, 2010 | n/a
Posted on July 16, 2010 4:09:47 PM PDT by Cindy

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2415490/posts

“BINARY EXPLOSIVES: FROM DISCUSSION TO IMPLEMENTATION”
INTERNET HAGANAH.com ^ | December 26, 2009 | Aaron Weisburd
Posted on December 26, 2009 2:37:05 PM PST by Cindy

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RE THE FORT HOOD MASSACRE - Background Link:

[Note: 14 killed if you include the unborn baby, which I do.]

Quote:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2379404/posts

Update:13 Soldiers Killed 31 Wounded Fort Hood Shooting [Muslim terrorist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan]
ABC ^ | 05 NOV 09
Posted on November 5, 2009 12:18:55 PM PST by DCBryan1

[Carry_Okie]

Enemy combatants on the ground I unreachable by LEOs. That is completely different from on US soil.

Let's see what the article says:

One was Anwar al-Awlaki, the firebrand preacher, born in New Mexico, who had evolved from a peddler of Internet hatred to a senior operative in Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen.

OK, "senior operative" whatever that is. What is in question is if he was a direct combatant posing an imminent threat to US citizens, which is the standard of the law. In my opinion, UNLESS he had direct means to make good on that threat, there should have been a finding by a court which is also the standard of the law. On the other hand...

Another was Samir Khan, another American citizen who had moved to Yemen from North Carolina and was the creative force behind Inspire, the militant group’s English-language Internet magazine.

A propagandist is not a combatant who poses an imminent threat to US citizens, not even close.

I have no problem killing these clowns, but unless they pose said threat, they should be killed only after a death warrant from a US court, perhaps analogous to a FISA court. Without clear lines of responsibility with checks on administrative overreach, you could find yourself on a video screen with your executioner 2,000 miles away, perhaps even in another country.

Killing Al Awlaki's kid was another matter. As a minor, there should be separate grounds for his death. As far as I am concerned, it was borderline murder, no matter what the little creep might have believed.

[Cindy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/samirkhan/index

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/inspire/index

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2605821/posts

NORTH CAROLINA MUSLIM ADMITS WORKING WITH AL QAEDA: “Proud to be an American Traitor”
JAWA REPORT - blog ^ | October 11, 2010 | By Hetz Shahor
Posted on October 12, 2010 1:12:46 AM PDT by Cindy

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http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2544663/posts

Don’t Open That File, Memet!
INTERNET-HAGANAH.com ^ | 30 June 2010 | n/a
Posted on June 30, 2010 3:42:11 PM PDT by Cindy

NOTE: The following SNIPPET is a quote:

DON’T OPEN THAT FILE, MEMET!

With much fanfare, al-Malahim, the media arm of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, announced the imminent release of — and then subsequently did release — what they claimed was the first official English-language al-Qaida magazine. It’s called “Inspire” as in “Inspire the Believers” (as opposed to the Quranic edict to Incite the Believers. They did this with the full cooperation of the administrators of the al-Faloja forum in particular.

Interestingly, the first couple of pages of the document appear perfectly normal. Then things get weird...

(Excerpt) Read more at internet-haganah.com ...

[Cindy]

SNIPPET from post no. 1:

Two of the Predator drones pointed lasers on the trucks to pinpoint the targets, while the larger Reapers took aim. The Reaper pilots, operating their planes from thousands of miles away, readied for the missile shots, and fired.

It was the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work..."

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

These overseas drone strikes are totally out of character for Militarily-pacifist 0bama. Think about it. So, what’s the purpose for them then? Practice for here.

[nickcarraway]

They’d just assume kill some innocent guy walking down the street and claim that person deserved it. Who knows.

[eartick]

As Odinga’s book writer and mentor Bill Ayers instructed his Weather Underground to do, kill tens of millions of Americans after America was changed by revolution. Must rid the lands of the non-conformers and the ones that can not be retrained in the indoctrination camps.

Pre-planned targets, lists and raids before the non-conformers can balkanize into enclaves where rooting them out would be harder for his Brown Shirt Brigades and DHS TSA hit squads.

All part of the plans my FRiend, just tea leaving here .

[Gene Eric]

>> So, whats the purpose for them then? Practice for here.

Conditioning.

[ronnie raygun]

They will generate a crisis red flag event to gain imaginary public support in order to validate using drones on America citizens, remember ruby ridge, waco........they cant wait!

[goldstategop]

I want to terminate Islamic terrorists no matter where they are.

Rand Paul says such monsters should be given the benefit of our laws.

I say “no.”