Posted on 12/28/2009 10:39:46 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
The radical US cleric who is thought to have advised three of the Sept. 11 hijackers as well as the Muslim-American US Army major who went on a shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, survived Thursday’s airstrike in Yemen’s Shabwa province.
Friends and relatives of Ansar al Awlaki claimed he was not killed in the attack, but they refused to disclose if he was in attendance at a meeting of al Qaeda leaders when it was hit by what the Yemeni government claimed were Yemeni Air Force fighter-bombers.
Awlaki was thought to have been attending a high-level meeting of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on Dec. 24. He was at the meeting to provide the needed religious justification for a planned al Qaeda campaign to conduct attacks against Yemeni and US targets in response to the controversial Dec. 17 airstrikes against al Qaeda in Abyan and Sana’a, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.
Among those believed to be at the meeting were Nasir al Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; his deputy Said al Shihri; and Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso, an al Qaeda operative wanted by the FBI for his role in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. Wuhayshi and Quso are also thought to have escaped the strike, while the status of Shihri is still unknown.
There are conflicting reports on the location of the strike; some indicate that Awlaki’s home was targeted, while others indicated that Quso’s home was hit.
Mohammed Saleh Awlaki, a local al Qaeda leader and a relative of Quso, was among the more than 30 people killed in Thursday’s airstrike. Mohammed Saleh Awlaki was last seen speaking to a crowd of Yemenis in Abyan province, just days after the Dec. 17 US cruise missile strike that targeted al Qaeda training camps in Abyan and Sana’a. He said al Qaeda was not at war with Yemeni soldiers, but only with the US and those who support her.
Yemen the new launchpad for al Qaeda's attacks against the West
Next time.. and there will be one. ;-)
and Ansar al Awlaki...is the Imman for the training school.
ping
Not good.
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415981/posts
25 Brits in jet bomb plots (returning Yemen to UK early 2010-await instructions)
The Sun ^ | December 27, 2009 | ANTHONY FRANCE Crime Reporter and ALEX WEST
COPS fear that 25 British-born Muslims are plotting to bomb Western airliners.
The fanatics, in five groups, are now training at secret terror camps in Yemen.
It was there London-educated Umar Abdulmutallab, 23, prepared for his Christmas Day bid to blow up a US jet.
The British extremists in Yemen are in their early 20s and from Bradford, Luton and Leytonstone, East London.
They are due to return to the UK early in 2010 and will then await internet instructions from al-Qaeda on when to strike.
A Scotland Yard source said: “The great fear is Abdulmutallab is the first of many ready to attack planes and kill tens of thousands.
Al-Qaeda in Yemen on Coming Attacks: "We are carrying a bomb to hit the enemies of God" - Video
I wouldn’t like that guy even if he wasn’t a dangerous cleric he looks like a royal jerk. They say God must love idiots, for he made so many of them.
A plane and a building...My head keeps scresaming “The Sears Tower”.
Wasn’t there a point in time when they thought Usama was in Yemen? After Bora Bora....
Damn. Thanks for update- conflicting stories on this guy being dead or alive.
AP reporting this guy is part of Al Q on the African Penninsula...attempted assasination on the Saudi prince recently too.
It all started with Ft. Hood..
This guy is the US born Imman that ties to the Fort Hood shooter Hassan.
Actually this Imman goes back to 9/11....was in San Diego with some those killers....then moved to that mosque in Virginia where some of them attended.
You’re right! I remembered him during Ft Hood- then forgot about that old connection until you just mentioned it.
And a corrction to my above post- it’s Al Q of the Arabian Penninsula- not African.
So The One is going to send us his recorded message within the next 30 mins or so...can you imagine GWB giving us a RECORDED message about this?
Survived just like osama did in Bora Bora.NOT!!!!
U.S. Quietly Takes Terror War to Yemen, a Qaeda Stronghold-(not "part of anything larger")
I too... hope the Family is speaking ...an untruth.
Love to learn about these “secret” plans...
Catherine Herridge just covered this guy extensively on FOX- noting his connections back to 9/11...says he the new rock start of Al Q...analysts saying he’s like “Dear Abby”..the go-to guy for spiritual questions, connecting with like-minded madmen etc.
He’s American so speaks English very well and is apparently a charming fellow...as so many psychopaths are..
Now (un)known as Willis Tower, after the UK Insurance corporation. A strike against that could be seen as targeting US and UK interests simultaneously.
HF
Ugh...as in Ugly!
Radicalization, links to extremists are themes in Hasan case
And now the plot to bomb airliners.
Ansar al Awlaki (left), and Major Nidal Hasan (right).
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