A CIA Predator Drone strike in Yemen on Thursday failed to hit its intended target, American citizen Anwar al-Awalaki, but may have killed other members of Al Qaeda, the Times reports. Al-Awalaki, a Muslim cleric who was born in New Mexico and recruits English-speaking extremists through internet sermons, is believed to be a member of Al Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula.
The group is linked to the attempted bombing of a jet in December of 2009; the group of Chicago-bound explosive packages intercepted in the UK and Dubai last October; and Nidal Malik Hasan, who exchanged emails with al-Awalaki himself before killing 12 people at Fort Hood, Texas. Al-Awalaki also attended a Muslim-outreach lunch sponsored by the Pentagon shortly after 9/11, before fleeing to the Middle East.
While Thursday's missile attack was the first to utilize a remotely piloted drone since 2002, "over the past two years, the military has carried out strikes in Yemen using cruise missiles from Navy ships and munitions from Marine Harrier jets." Given this missile strike in a country that the US has no official military presence, and the violent narrative of Bin Laden's death that has dominated the news this week, the decision to give President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize seems like so long ago. Listen to al-Awalaki speak on the media's complicity in the war in Iraq in the clip below.
