LAT: Other American killed with Awlaki was 'Al Qaeda to the core'

[ellisonz]

Samir Khan, 25, also reported killed in the U.S. strike in Yemen, was a skilled propagandist who wrote virulently militant blog posts while a college student in Charlotte, N.C.

By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

October 1, 2011
Reporting from New Bern, N.C.—
Before he was the Yemen-based editor of the English-language online magazine for Al Qaeda's branch in the Arabian peninsula, Samir Khan was a radical young Muslim blogger in North Carolina.

Khan, 25, a skilled propagandist, wrote virulently pro-Al Qaeda blog posts while a student at a community college in Charlotte. As a teenager, he posted blogs championing violent jihad from his parents' home on suburban Tradition View Drive in a modern Charlotte subdivision.

Khan was one of two American citizens killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, American and Yemeni officials announced Friday. Along with Anwar Awlaki, 40, who was also reported killed, Khan parlayed his idiomatic American English and familiarity with American culture to recruit converts for Al Qaeda throughout the English-speaking world.

Khan edited Inspire, an online English-language magazine that served as Al Qaeda's propaganda arm. From his base in Yemen, Khan wrote stories with such headlines as "How to Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom" and "What to Expect in Jihad."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-khan-profile-20111001,0,4027682.story

His local mosque in NC banned him from speaking and attempted him and his father to abandon violence in the name of Islam.

[sethgrogen]

1. 2 american citizens killed by the cia?

[Poll_Blind]

2. Yep. Same strike.

PB

[AverageJoe90]

3. I wonder if this guy was a pawn? Al-Awlaki may have been.

Surely somebody had to have known at that point. Why couldn't they have just detained him while searching for evidence of his plans of wrongdoing(incitement IS a crime, you know)?

Also, TBH,I had briefly felt a little relief of that rat bastard Al-Awlaki died, but upon doing a little research and some reconsideration(thanks Sabrina 1!) I realized that it was still kind of a mistake after all; they could have arrested this douchebag when he was still in this country(and there was a far lesser risk of breaching the Constitution!), but NOOOOOO, he had been dining with those neo-con shits at the Pentagon........

[ellisonz]

4. But they didn't - to arrest him at this point would have required...

...American boots on the ground in Yemen.

If you've been following the news from Yemen - there is basically 2 civil wars going on at the same time. Country is on the brink of chaos.

"The FBI conducted extensive investigations of al-Awlaki, and he was observed crossing state lines with prostitutes in the D.C. area.<24><48> To arrest him, the FBI considered invoking the little-used Mann Act, a federal law prohibiting interstate transport of women for "immoral purposes".<24> But before investigators could detain him, al-Awlaki left for Yemen in March 2002.<24><48>"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al-Awlaki#In_the_United_States.3B_1991.E2.80.932002

[JCMach1]

5. More than 2 sides in that war actually... al-Awlaki

Became collateral damage because his tribe stopped supporting al-Saleh and Saleh's people knew exactly where he was.

[ellisonz]

6. True that there's more than 2 sides.

I said 2 civil wars - with multiple sides on all conflicts - one for governance and one for the country.

I wouldn't preclude us from locating him by with our vast intelligence program on our own and then notifying Saleh's people that we were going to do it. We've gotten pretty damn good at this.

[JCMach1]

7. That's what makes Yemen such a mess... South vs. North

Gov. vs. anti-Gov., Left vs. Fundies, and tribe vs. tribe...

What an absolute disaster in a country that doesn't have enough water and food to survive without aid...

[ellisonz]

8. Aid that frankly might not be forthcoming...

...there really isn't that much we can do about the water problem especially.

Time to start airdropping prophylactics. :sarcasm:

A Look At U.S. Policy On Family Planning Abroad

by Brenda Wilson

Secretary HILLARY CLINTON (Department of State): Theres a direct connection between a womans ability to plan her family, space her pregnancies and give birth safely and her ability to get an education, work outside the home, support her family and participate fully in the life of her community.

WILSON: The administration has already restored funding for the United Nations Population and Development Fund, which for eight years received no U.S. support. And in his first week, President Obama lifted an executive order that existed in the Reagan and Bush administrations that prohibited U.S.-funded programs from providing information about abortion services.

Secretary Clinton has called for an increase in reproduction health education services and contraceptives for young people, links between HIV services and family planning, more prenatal care and a reduction in unsafe abortions.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123251638

Step on the gas with this program, international community.

[AverageJoe90]

10. Well, I meant in the U.S. of course.

I also find it interesting this guy was involved with prostitutes? Perhaps he may have also been involved in human trafficking as well? We may never know the whole story now but it's a valid question to ask.

[madrchsod]

9. why did`t they arrest in the usa?

i guess he was collateral damage.