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Hunting Down Anwar al-Awlaki, Public Enemy No. 1
Alex Kingsbury
He's called bin Laden 2.0 and the most dangerous man in the world, but the al Qaeda adherent's true identity is far more complicated
Amid the deluge of radical Islamic literature, few works are as influential to would-be terrorists as a booklet called "Constants on the Path of Jihad." Written in Arabic by a Saudi al Qaeda adherent, the booklet is the subject of a series of wildly popular video lectures in English by
Awlaki has been called "the [Osama] bin Laden of the
There is little debate, however, about Awlaki's global reach and his resonance with Western audiences. Just recently he released a video that called on Muslims to kill Americans. "Don't consult with anyone in fighting the Americans," Awlaki says in the video. "Fighting the devil doesn't require consultation or prayers or seeking divine guidance." And copies of the "Constants" lecture series have popped up in nearly every investigation of homegrown terrorism in the English-speaking world, including
It is not just the videos that have made Awlaki Washington's most recent public enemy. U.S. intelligence officials say that Awlaki has become much more than a radical preacher for the al Qaeda group known as al Qaeda in the
Awlaki was born in 1971 in
Traveling in increasingly radical circles during the 1990s, Awlaki first came to the attention of the U.S. government in 1999 for his ties to associates of Sheik
Awlaki was arrested in 1996 and again in 1997 for soliciting prostitutes. When FBI agents again saw Awlaki talking to prostitutes in 2002, they contemplated arresting him on solicitation charges to force more cooperation on the 9/11 probe. But before they could do so, he left the country. Over the past eight years, Awlaki has become more strident in his beliefs and has increased his violent, anti-Western rhetoric.
Sources say Awlaki was added to the Pentagon's "kill or capture" list earlier this year after it was determined that the cleric had morphed from a rhetorician into an "operational" terrorist leader. The criteria for making such determinations and the evidence for it have not been made public. Moreover, the government doesn't officially acknowledge even the existence of either a kill list or the campaign of drone strikes used against those on it. But several senior intelligence officials say that Awlaki was added to the list after the interrogation of the
The U.S. government's official position is that Awlaki is a leader in the
But that view is not universally shared. "Despite his public reputation, he's actually a very mid-level guy in the [AQAP] organization," says
Kohlmann describes Awlaki as more of an "outside consultant" who hasn't sworn an oath of allegiance to
Awlaki is a dangerous "senior leader adjunct," says Juan Zuarte, a former deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism in the Bush administration. "He is a sort of Pied Piper for western recruits, an all-purpose inspirational voice for self-starters," Zuarte says. "But recently he has also played a more direct operational role, particularly with plots aimed at the West."
Despite the debate over his role in AQAP,
Yemeni forces backed by U.S. intelligence and firepower have launched dozens of raids and airstrikes against AQAP targets in the country over the past year and are thought to have killed half a dozen of the group's leaders, according to officials.
But not all operations have been successful; indeed, they sometimes backfire badly. Last December, U.S. intelligence officials crowed anonymously in the
In May, forces in
But the kill-or-capture-Awlaki strategy continues, even as it faces even more obstacles than those presented by the struggles of the Yemeni government. In
The geographic limits of the battlefield and the criteria for deciding who is actually a member of al Qaeda, and thus a legitimate target, are important issues that have not had a full public airing, civil libertarians note, especially as the Obama administration has greatly expanded the use of drones in its campaign against al Qaeda. But the hunt for the man intelligence officials call dangerous, even if they don't agree to what extent, is one that won't end until the military has Awlaki in custody, or dead.
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Hunting Down Anwar al-Awlaki, Public Enemy No. 1
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