"Some folks just need
killin’." – Sling Blade
(1996)
————————–
Our nation’s finest killed
U.S.-born, al Qaeda preacher and propagandist of hatred and murder
extraordinaire, Anwar al-Awlaki, in Yemen in Sept. 30, using Hellfire
missiles shot from multiple Predator drones that hovered over his convoy. Another American terrorist was also killed –
Samir Khan, who helped with propaganda and recruitment for radical Islam throughout
the Arabian Peninsula.
Bravo, I say!
But, some civil libertarians are
now grumbling. Not to trivialize concern
with our nation’s civil liberties, mind you; but, let’s take a closer look at
this issue before sympathizing with those who seem to condemn the preemptory
destruction of somebody who, given the chance, would have tried to destroy some
of us, shall we?
Yes, al-Awlaki was born in America
of parents from Yemen while they were here, enjoying the benefits of our
liberties for which our forefathers and mothers fought, and some died. My Dad – who served in both the European and
Pacific Theaters in WWII, lacking the needed points to come home after V-E Day,
stationed in Manila, awaiting the invasion of Japan while, meanwhile, as an MP,
trying to keep locals and GI’s from drinking gasoline disguised by sellers
without morals as your favorite cocktail – told me many times while I was
growing up of his boyhood friends who are buried on that foggy, cold cliff over
the Normandy beaches.
Then, a few years ago, reports
surfaced that al-Awlaki had become the new prize catch of Al Qaeda, an
American-born, fluent English speaker, who could help recruit a new breed of
far more dangerous terrorist to come to America and blow things up and kill
innocent people.
What’s worse is that al-Awlaki had
the gift of a Silver Tongue – he could preach hate quite seductively, and began
doing so, while also becoming chief of external operations for al Qaeda’s
deadly Yemen branch, all the while spewing propaganda of the most hateful and
vicious sort on the Web, giving a most perverse, hijacked view of Islam
involving killing innocent people here in our country.
Now, it is one thing to be fool
enough to want to blow yourself to Kingdom Come, killing other innocents in the
process. That is reprehensible, crazy,
horrendous behavior, which no civilized society should ever have to bear or
tolerate. But, it is quite another to
incite young, naïve, impressionable men and women, who have their whole lives
ahead of them to enjoy and enrich our society, to come here and blow themselves
up and kill innocents. This is the
gutless, shameful conduct of a real coward.
al-Awlaki was a master of the
latter – a real gutless pig of a coward.
But, he was very good at his work.
Some intelligence sources say that it was only a matter of ‘when,’ not
‘if,’ another attack on the US would come, and that it would come from this
Yemen franchise of Hate and Murder Incorporated, this time. al-Awlaki was reputed to have been involved
in nearly every, if not in fact every, foiled plot against our country
emanating from the Arabian Peninsula over the last few years – my intelligence
sources are likely no better than yours, but this has been reported in more
than a few media stories on this topic of late.
Some, not all, civil libertarian
voices have said that we acted this time as Judge, Jury, Executioner, and some
even throw in, as God, in this much-needed attack on somebody who really did
‘need killin’.’ These critics of some of
the bravest national defense actions imaginable – not only as to al-Awlaki ,
but also as to our months-ago killing of the Big Kahuna of Terrorism himself, Bin laden – say that we should
have arrested these miserable excuses for human beings, and dragged their sorry
behinds to the US, and tried them to a federal judge and jury. Oh, to
live in such a fantasy-land! Bin
laden, according to recent statements by Admiral Mullen, who retired last
weekend, was being cozily kept by elements of the Pakistani intelligence
administration, who would only have informed him to run like a thief in the
night, had we sought their cooperation.
Yemen, a country whose government hangs by a thread in this year of the
Arab Spring, surely would not, and could not, have handed al-Awlaki over to our
law enforcement authorities.
But, what’s more, 9/11 really did
commence a war. I don’t personally like
the name War on Terror, as terror is a means – a strategy to intimidate. But, when non-state actors incite others to
come here and blow up themselves and innocent people, who they don’t even know,
that, my friends, is an Act of War. Now,
if Belgium or Jamaica sent troops here
to attack (apologies to both for using their names), we would declare
war against another country. But, when
non-state actors come, there is no country to declare war against. And, our criminal justice system has no real
utility in a world where loose nukes could be smuggled into Times Square, and
ignited, killing millions, and rendering major American cities uninhabitable
for, oh, say, 30,000 years or so. It’s a
new day in warfare and with it come new rules.
We did what was right in killing
al-Awlaki . May drones continue to carry
out this important work so that our brave men and women in uniform are not in
harm’s way. Drones need no food or love
or pay – they go where we send them.
And, may those who criticize brave
actions to save all of us from severe harm which would, and could, have
occurred, please think and be rational before simply leveling knee-jerk
responses.