IS THERE ANY REAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A ROGUE ISRAEL AND A ROGUE USA? OBAMA
WITH ALL HIS MORALIZING HYPE IS STILL A PRISONER OF THE NEO-CON STRANGLEHOLD
ON AMERICAN WAR HYSTERIA. THE WORLD SHOULD CONDEMN HOW ASSASSINATION POLICY
INDULGED BY ISRAEL IN DUBAI IS NOW BEING IMPOSED ON THE USA, POSSIBLY JUST
TO COVER ISRAEL'S GUILT IN DUBAI MURDER.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html?hp

U.S. Approves Targeted Killing of American ClericBy SCOTT
SHANE<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/scott_shane/index.html?inline=nyt-per>Published:
April 6, 2010

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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of
authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim
cleric Anwar al-Awlaki <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/us/19awlaki.html>,
who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United
States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism
officials said Tuesday.
Related

   - Times Topic: Anwar
al-Awlaki<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/anwar_al_awlaki/index.html>

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Mr. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico and spent years in the United States
as an imam, is in hiding
inYemen<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/yemen/index.html?inline=nyt-geo>.
He has been the focus of intense scrutiny since he was linked to Maj. Nidal
Malik 
Hasan<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/h/nidal_malik_hasan/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people at Fort
Hood<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/fort_hood_texas/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier>,
Tex., in November, and then to Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/umar_farouk_abdulmutallab/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
the Nigerian man charged with trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on
Dec. 25.

American counterterrorism officials say Mr. Awlaki is an operative of Al
Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the affiliate of the terror network in Yemen
and Saudi Arabia. They say they believe that he has become a recruiter for
the terrorist network, feeding prospects into plots aimed at the United
States and at Americans abroad, the officials said.

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved
for targeted killing, officials said. A former senior legal official in the
administration of George W.
Bush<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/george_w_bush/index.html?inline=nyt-per>said
he did not know of any American who was approved for targeted killing under
the former president.

But the director of national intelligence, Dennis C.
Blair<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/dennis_c_blair/index.html?inline=nyt-per>,
told a House hearing in February that such a step was possible. “We take
direct actions against terrorists in the intelligence community,” he said.
“If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get
specific permission to do that.” He did not name Mr. Awlaki as a target.

The step taken against Mr. Awlaki, which occurred earlier this year, is a
vivid illustration of his rise to prominence in the constellation of
terrorist leaders. But his popularity as a cleric, whose lectures on Islamic
scripture have a large following among English-speaking Muslims, means any
action against him could rebound against the United States in the larger
ideological campaign against Al
Qaeda<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/a/al_qaeda/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
.

The possibility that Mr. Awlaki might be added to the target list was
reported by The Los Angeles Times in January, and Reuters reported on
Tuesday that he was approved for capture or killing.

“The danger Awlaki poses to this country is no longer confined to words,”
said an American official, who like other current and former officials
interviewed for this article spoke of the classified counterterrorism
measures on the condition of anonymity. “He’s gotten involved in plots.”

The official added: “The United States works, exactly as the American people
expect, to overcome threats to their security, and this individual — through
his own actions — has become one. Awlaki knows what he’s done, and he knows
he won’t be met with handshakes and flowers. None of this should surprise
anyone.”

As a general principle, international law permits the use of lethal force
against individuals and groups that pose an imminent threat to a country,
and officials said that was the standard used in adding names to the list of
targets. In addition, Congress approved the use of military force against Al
Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. People on the target list
are considered to be military enemies of the United States and therefore not
subject to the ban on political assassination first approved by
President Gerald
R. 
Ford<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/gerald_rudolph_jr_ford/index.html?inline=nyt-per>
.

Both the 
C.I.A.<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/c/central_intelligence_agency/index.html?inline=nyt-org>
and
the military maintain lists of terrorists linked to Al Qaeda and its
affiliates who are approved for capture or killing, former officials said.
But because Mr. Awlaki is an American, his inclusion on those lists had to
be approved by the National Security
Council<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_security_council/index.html?inline=nyt-org>,
the officials said.

At a panel discussion in Washington on Tuesday, Representative Jane
Harman<http://harman.house.gov/about/committees-legislation.shtml>,
Democrat of California and chairwoman of a House subcommittee on homeland
security, called Mr. Awlaki “probably the person, the terrorist, who would
be terrorist No. 1 in terms of threat against us.”

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