Radical Yemeni Cleric Believed Unhurt in Airstrike

[RamboLiberal]

Source: ABC News

A U.S.-born radical cleric is alive and well following reports he may have been killed in a Yemeni airstrike against suspected al-Qaida hideouts, friends and relatives said Friday.

The government said it targeted a meeting of high-level al-Qaida operatives in Thursday's airstrike in the remote Shabwa region. It claimed at least 30 militants were killed, possibly including Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric who has been linked to the shooter in last month's attack at the Fort Hood military base in the U.S.

On Friday, a friend of the cleric, Abu Bakr al-Awlaki, told The Associated Press he was not among those killed. He refused to say if the cleric was attending the meeting.

Abu Bakr al-Awlaki was in Shabwa and in contact with the gunmen in control of the area following the strike. He is not related to the cleric, but the two are from the same tribe and carry the same last name.

Thursday's airstrikes were the second in a week against al-Qaida and were carried out with U.S. and Saudi intelligence help. The newly aggressive Yemeni campaign, backed by American aid, reflects Washington's fears that the terror network could turn this fragmented, unstable nation into an Afghanistan-like refuge in a highly strategic location on the border with oil-rich Saudi Arabia.



Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=9421843

[thewiseguy]

1. Here is my question. Who unrecommended this thread?

I think people are abusing the unrec feature.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Unrec feature sucks

sometimes a thread is unrec just because someone doesn't like the OP for something that happened before.

I wish Admin would ditch the unrec system altogether.

[Blandocyte]

2. Bet that'll give him some acid reflux

Catch ya later, Anwar.

[Doctor_J]

3. We have "radical clerics" here in the US who pray for Obama's death

are they subject to air strikes?

[SnakeEyes]

9. Who do you have in mind?

Curious which death prayer should be first.

[IndianaGreen]

11. John Hagee would be a good start

of course, never mind that drone strikes often miss their targets but do succeed in killing a lot of innocent people, and let's disregard that thingy about the US assassinating people.

Anyone remember the CIA's Phoenix program?

[pinniped]

5. And they sounded so sure this dude expired the other day.

Linked, believed to have died, and suspected to be dead.

I guess this casts doubt on the 30 other bad dudes that allegedly died the other day.

[EFerrari]

6. It was pretty clear that this story was pie in the sky.

I wish I had bookmarked DU's skepticism on that thread.

[Pavulon]

7. Always a new day to grease this guy..

it sure would suck having the entire western intelligence community working on killing you.

[Kolesar]

8. & who wants to be close to him?

I'll get back to you, yeah, wait for my call, ok?

[leveymg]

10. another key 9/11 witness - helped the flt 77 hijackers in san diego

[BlueSun]

12. Nobel War Prize?

So, the 2009 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is now fighting overt and covert wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Iran - that we know of. Kind of ironic that the man who won the Peace Prize is the single person responsible for more civilian deaths in war this year than anybody else on the planet. Who's next? Bermuda and Monaco better watch out. He must be channeling Dick Cheney.