By Dipin Damodharan
After Osama binLaden and Ilyas Kashmiri, another al-Qaeda man, Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by the United States in their war on terror. The drone attack that killed Awlaki in Yemen on September 30 was another defining movement in America’s counter-terrorism movement. Obviously it happened to be another feather on Obama’s hat also.
The English speaking US-Yemen citizen Awlaki was really an asset in attracting and recruiting educated youngsters for al-Qaeda’s Jihad against non-Muslims.
As the US government states, it is obvious that the death of Awlaki may trigger more anti-American terror strikes worldwide. But it is more obvious that the killing o f this jihadi intellectual is another hard blow to international terror shop al-Qaeda, especially after the missing space created by the death of Osama.
In America many intellectuals have been criticizing Obama for killing an American citizen without enough charge. But these criticisms have no relevance as Alwaki’s role is evident in more than three terror strikes on American soil.
The ‘internet bin Laden’
In the terror circle, Awlaki was known as the ‘internet bin Laden’ since he exploited internet extensively for propagating jihadi venom and thereby recruiting more soldiers to al-Qaeda. Awlaki, a Master graduate from San Diego State University was considered as the senior spokesman of al-Qaeda and the first American citizen to be added to a list of persons approved for targeted killing by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).
According to American intelligence sources, Awlaki was the chief of external operations for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Awlaki’s fluency in English, advocacy of Jihad and Mujahedeen organizations and his web savvy approach are a powerful combination-terror expert Evan Kohlmann once observed. This is also the reason why Obama so worried about this American jihadist intellectual.
Awlaki also played a prominent role in the 9/11 plot. According to the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) this American jihadi served as the spiritual leader to several of the hijackers. He was also involved in a 2009 Christmas Day plan to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner.
However, Awlaki’s death will definitely be a boost for Obama in next election and a bane to al-Qaeda both physically and intellectually. As political scientist Seth Jones pointed out in his article published in BBC Online, Awlaki’s death badly hit the social media campaign of al-Qaeda.
Yes, the ‘internet bin Laden’ is no more, now its the time to erase his ideas from the internet.