Eloquent voice of anti-US jihad is silenced

By Dale McFeatters

There is a venerable proverb that says one should speak nothing but good of the dead. In the case of assassinated radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, that would tax all but the most saintly among us.

Awlaki, 40, was born in New Mexico, while his father was here on a study grant, and the son later returned to study at what could be considered quintessential America universities, Colorado State, San Diego State and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

His Muslim heritage led him to begin preaching in local mosques and was well thought of by his congregations who professed to be shocked by his turn to radicalism, a transformation that was complete by the mid-2000s.

He began preaching bitterly anti-U.S. sermons, strident enough even to worry the Yemeni government. His fluent, colloquial English made him a powerful spokesman for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, perhaps the most effective remaining branch of that terrorist organization.

If only he had stuck to preaching, but he felt ``jihad against America is binding on myself," as well as all other Muslims, and he began to practice what he preached.

He knew two of the 9/11 bombers, although authorities believe he was not complicit in the plot but, in light of subsequent events, who really knows? He was in extensive contact with Maj. Nidal Hasan, who murdered 13 of his fellow U.S. soldiers at Ft. Hood in 2009. Awlaki praised Hasan as a ``hero."

He is reliably believed to have met with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and helped plan the failed Christmas Day bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner. Faisal Shahzad admitted that Awlaki ``inspired" him in his failed attempt to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Awlaki is believed to have been behind a failed attempt to mail bombs to Chicago-area synagogues.

In the online al-Qaida magazine ``Inspire" called for jihadis to target American citizens, their government and their banks, businesses and government buildings even in non-Muslim countries.

Also dying with Awlaki in the same combined drone and jet strike was Samir Khan, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen and the publisher of ``Inspire." Khan was said to have been radicalized by seeing videos, taken by Islamic extremists, of suicide bombers targeting U.S. military posts: "It was something that brought great happiness to me."

With Awlaki's brains and fanatical determination, it was likely only a matter of time before he succeeded in a terror plot of some kind. It was probably good that we got him when we did.

Still, there are troubling aspects to his assassination. The ACLU has a point when it says, ``It is a mistake to invest the president ― any president ― with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to represent a threat to his country."

Still, it is a relief to have Awlaki and Khan, with their nonstop talk of killing, gone.

Dale McFeatters is a Scripps Howard News Service editorial writer.