by Scott Shane
The cover story was Awlaki’s four-page piece called “The Tsunami of Change” Inspire, no. 5 (March 2011): 50–53, https://ia801603.us.archive.org/6/items/inspr1to10/Inspire_5.pdf.
On Change Square, in front of Sanaa University A Yemeni account is Samar Al-Ariqi, “How Change Square Became the Birthplace of an Uprising,” Yemen Times, February 11, 2014, http://www.yementimes.com/en/1754/report/3465/How-Change-Square-became-the-birthplace-of-an-uprising.htm.
The median age in Yemen was an astonishing 18.6 years Yemen Demographics Profile 2014, Index Mundi, Factbook, http://www.indexmundi.com/yemen/demographics_profile.html; the US median is at “United States Median Age,” Index Mundi, Factbook, http://www.indexmundi.com/united_states/median_age.html.
Abdulrahman, who had been born in Denver and moved to Yemen with his family at age six, posted with enthusiasm on Facebook I viewed Abdulrahman’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/abdulrahman.alawlaki multiple times in 2013 and 2014, but it was taken down by early 2015. This account is also based on interviews with several family members and friends of the teenager.
On March 18, government snipers opened fire from the rooftops Laura Kasinof and Robert F. Worth, “Dozens Are Killed in Yemen, but Protesters Stand Ground,” The New York Times, March 19, 2011; the total of reported deaths rose as severely wounded demonstrators died. For a gripping personal account of the sniper attack and Yemen’s Arab Spring, see Laura Kasinof, Don’t Be Afraid of the Bullets: An Accidental War Correspondent in Yemen (New York: Arcade, 2014).
A story that Anwar al-Awlaki’s uncle, Saleh bin Fareed Saleh Bin Fareed al-Awlaki, interview, January 28, 2014, Aden.
American commandos captured a fishing boat shuttling a Somali named Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame Charlie Savage, “U.S. Tests New Approach to Terrorism Cases on Somali Suspect,” The New York Times, July 6, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/world/africa/07detain.html.
The methods paid off with Warsame, who turned out to have inside knowledge Benjamin Weiser, “Terrorist Has Cooperated with U.S. Since Secret Guilty Plea in 2011, Papers Show,” The New York Times, March 25, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/26/nyregion/since-2011-guilty-plea-somali-terrorist-has-cooperated-with-authorities.html.
Obama returned as scheduled to the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner “Remarks by the President at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner,” posted May 1, 2011, White House, Briefing Room, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/01/remarks-president-white-house-correspondents-association-dinner.
the president strode along the red carpet in the East Room to the podium “Remarks by the President on Osama Bin Laden,” posted May 2, 2011, White House, Briefing Room, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/remarks-president-osama-bin-laden.
A New York Times-CBS poll that morning had reported a bump in Obama’s approval rating James Dao and Dalia Sussman, “For Obama, Big Rise in Poll Numbers After Bin Laden Raid,” The New York Times, May 4, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05poll.html.
JSOC put together an extraordinarily complex array of equipment to catch him on the road This account of the May 5 strike is based on confidential interviews with three counterterrorism officials in 2014. See Mark Mazzetti, “Drone Strike in Yemen Was Aimed at Awlaki,” The New York Times, May 6, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html, and Martha Raddatz, “U.S. Missiles Missed Awlaki by Inches in Yemen,” ABC News, July 19, 2011, http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-missed-awlaki-inches-yemen/story?id=s14108686.
the performance of laser-guided missiles like the Hellfire and the Griffin against fast-moving targets was not impressive Former American drone pilot, confidential interview, 2014.
Harith al-Nadari, who later recounted the episode in Inspire magazine Shaykh Harith Al Nadari, “My Story with Al Awlaki,” Inspire no. 9 (May 2012): 9–13; the issue can be downloaded from Public Intelligence, https://publicintelligence.net/inspire-al-qaeda-in-the-arabian-peninsula-magazine-issues-8-and-9-may-2012/.
“What can you do with me?” Awlaki quoted Ibn Taymiyyah as saying The passage from the early lecture is at 10:28 in a memorial video posted on YouTube: [New] Tribute to Imam Anwar Al Awlaki (RA), March 29, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQXFd3NXsoI.
“Martyrdom is like a tree” Awlaki’s remarks about martyrdom are included at 11:30 in the memorial video. Ibid.
Mohamed Elibiary, a young Muslim activist in Texas whom I had consulted Mohamed Elibiary, “It’s a Mistake to Assassinate Anwar al-Awlaki,” FoxNews.com, April 16, 2010, http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/04/16/mohamed-elibiary-alawlaki-assassinate-muslims-war-terror-nsc/.
“I think throughout there was a feeling that the CTC guys were much better” Former counterterrorism official, confidential interview, 2014.
the Saudis had insisted that the United States keep secret the location of the new base The New York Times and other news organizations initially agreed on a deadline to the Obama administration’s request that the location of the base in Saudi Arabia not be revealed; officials said that Saudi Arabia might stop letting the Americans use it if the country was named in the media. Instead, we used the formula “on the Arabian Peninsula.” Later, finding that the Saudi location was mentioned in several reports on the web, Times editors decided to reverse course and we began reporting the location. See the discussion by Margaret Sullivan, the Times’s public editor: “The Times Was Right to Report—at Last—on a Secret Drone Base,” February 6, 2013, http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/the-times-was-right-to-report-at-last-on-a-secret-drone-base/.
Abdulrahman rose in his grandfather’s big house in the capital and scribbled an apologetic note Nasser al-Awlaki, interview by Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, June 2013, Sanaa.
In rare public remarks in July, Admiral Eric T. Olson Video of Olson’s remarks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 29, 2011, is posted on YouTube: ASF2011: In Conversation with Admiral Eric Olson, https://www.youtube.com/watch?vz=rd0CNWfI-8c.
Morten Storm, the Danish former jihadi who had delivered bugged equipment to AQAP Morten Storm with Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister, Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda and the CIA (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2014), 258.
The CIA got word in the second week of September 2011 An NSA budget document released by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden stated that “the CIA tracked Aulaqi for three weeks before a joint operation with the U.S. military killed Aulaqi.” The document called the strike “another integrated CIA and military success in the counterterrorism fight.” Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald, “The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program,” Intercept, February 10, 2014, https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/02/10/the-nsas-secret-role/.
“People were optimistic that we were getting close” American official, confidential interview, 2013.
He and his small band were sitting outside a large Bedouin-style tent This account of Awlaki’s death is based on confidential interviews with multiple American counterterrorism officials, 2014.
It was “Bedouin country,” said Abdullah al-Jumaili Abdullah al-Jumaili, interview, January 27, 2014, Sanaa.
“Before I begin,” he said, “I want to say a few words” “Remarks by the President at the ‘Change of Office’ Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Ceremony,” September 30, 2011, White House, Briefing Room, http://www.whitehouse.gov/
the-press-office/2011/09/30/remarks-president-change-office-chairman-joint-chiefs-staff-ceremony.
an act “where it is intended that the role of the United States Government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly” Definition of covert action at 50 USC 3093e, Cornell University Law School, Legal Information Institute, http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/3093.
Obama spoke enthusiastically with radio host Michael Smerconish Obama, interview by Michael Smerconish, October 26, 2012, Smerconish, CNN, http://smerconish.com/michael-smerconish-interviews-president-obama/.
On the Washington Monthly’s website the day of the Awlaki strike Steve Benen, “A Quiet Record of Foreign Policy Successes,” Washington Monthly, September 30, 2011, http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_09/a_quiet_record_of_foreign_poli032532.php.
There were accolades from commentators for NBC News “First Thoughts: Needing a Boost,” First Read (blog), September 30, 2011, NBC News, http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2011/09/30/8058456-first-thoughts-needing-a-boost.
At ABC News, Jake Tapper offered a sly tribute Jake Tapper, “The Terrorist Notches on Obama’s Belt,” ABCNews.com, September 30, 2011, http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/09/the-terrorist-notches-on-obamas-belt/.
They fired their missiles at a group of seven men eating at the side of a road Obama administration and military officials have never given a public account of the October 14 strike, and officials who have spoken on background have given somewhat inconsistent accounts. This account is based on both confidential interviews with multiple American officials and interviews with Yemenis, including Nasser al-Awlaki, in January and February 2014, as well as Nasser’s interview with Medea Benjamin of Code Pink in Sanaa, June 2013.
“He was a very sweet, very gentle boy” Nasser al-Awlaki, interview by Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, June 2013, Sanaa.
“The nature of his anger was that we’d taken a ton of care around the Awlaki issue” Obama aide, confidential interview, 2013.
“The son was there specifically to make contact with Al Qaeda” Senior American official involved with Yemen policy, confidential interview, 2013.
Abdul Razzaq al-Jamal, reported that Abdulrahman Bill Roggio, “Anwar al Awlaki’s Son Hoped ‘to Attain Martyrdom as My Father Attained It,’ ” Long War Journal, December 8, 2011, quoting from a jihadist forum as translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/12/anwar_al_awlakis_son.php.
the United States would still be offering a reward Statement from the State Department, “Reward Offers for Information on Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) Leaders,” October 14, 2014, listing Ibrahim al-Banna.
“was certainly with people who we believed to be AQAP” Senior Obama administration official, confidential interview, 2014.
Nasser al-Awlaki countered the false reports by giving reporters copies of Abdulrahman’s birth certificate “Abdulrahman al-Awlaki’s Birth Certificate,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/documents/abdulrahman-al-awlaki-birth-certificate.html.
“That’s a ‘shit happens’ kind of story” American official briefed in detail on strikes in Yemen, confidential interview, 2013.
In its official “Report of Death of an American Citizen Abroad,” Form DS-2060 The document, dated December 20, 2011, is page 60 in a larger collection of documents related to Abdulrahman al-Awlaki obtained from the State Department under the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, “Abdulrahman al-Aulaqi Docs Combined,” November 27, 2012, https://www.scribd.com/doc/114624884/Abdulrahman-al-Aulaqi-docs-combined.
In an emotional audio statement to British Muslims Nasser al-Awlaki’s statement is on YouTube: Message from Dr Nassar Al-Awlaki to Muslims of UK, uploaded December 2, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AIywZqHjIE.
“I told my grandson, ‘Look, I don’t want you to take any other path except the path of your grandfather’ ” Nasser al Awlaki, interview by Medea Benjamin of Code Pink, June 2013, Sanaa.
“I will continue being tormented with questions about why Abdulrahman was killed” Nasser al-Awlaki, written answers to questions from the author, January 2014.
Nasser had read my story about the hearing Scott Shane, “Judge Challenges White House Claims on Authority in Drone Killings,” The New York Times, July 19, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/us/politics/judge-challenges-white-house-claims-on-authority-in-drone-killings.html.
A few months later, in April 2014, Judge Collyer dashed that hope Opinion of Judge Rosemary M. Collyer in Aulaqi et al. v. Panetta et al., Civil Action No. 12-1192, US District Court for the District of Columbia, available at Center for Constitutional Rights website, http://ccrjustice.org/files/2014-04-04_Al-Aulaqiv.Panetta_OpinionDismissingCase.pdf.
13. A BIGGER BRAND
When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab entered a federal courtroom in Detroit for sentencing The transcript of Abdulmutallab’s sentencing on February 16, 2012, before Judge Nancy G. Edmunds is part of the online case file, US v. Abdulmutallab, Case No. 10-CR-20005.
Many fans compiled elaborate tribute videos See, for instance, [New] Tribute to Imam Anwar al Awlaki (RA), uploaded March 29, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQXFd3NXsoI.
Among them was an official video eulogy from AQAP itself The transcript can be found in “AQAP Releases Video Focused on Anwar al-Awlaki,” SITE Intelligence Group, December 20, 2011, https://news.siteintelgroup.com/Jihadist-News/aqap-releases-video-focused-on-anwar-al-awlaki.html; the video itself is preserved in many places on the Internet, including the Internet Archive: Al Malaheem: The Martyr of Dawaah, https://archive.org/details/AlMalaheem-TheMartyrOfDawaah.
Rubeish had a personal motive for his anger at America Ibrahim al-Rubeish was known by several names and spellings, including Ibrahim al-Rubaish and Ibrahim Arbaysh; see The New York Times’s Guantanamo Docket, “Ibrahim Sulayman Muhammad Arbaysh,” http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/192-ibrahim-sulayman-muhammad-arbaysh, and Murad Batal al-Shishani, “Ibrahim al-Rubaish: New Religious Ideologue of al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia Calls for Revival of Assassination Tactic,” Jamestown Foundation, November 25, 2009, http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=35771#.VFFG9It4rut.
On YouTube alone a search for “Awlaki” turned up tens of thousands of videos, a number that kept climbing Author’s observation from YouTube searches, 2009–14; a search on YouTube for “Awlaki” in October 2014, for example, produced “about 98,800 results,” according to the count by YouTube.
That promise turned out to be meaningless, as I discovered when I did a follow-up story Scott Shane, “Radical Cleric Still Speaks on YouTube,” The New York Times, March 4, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/05/world/middleeast/05youtube.html.
“He’s a bigger brand now than when he was alive” Ahmed Younis, telephone interview, November 19, 2013.
Yasir Qadhi, an American imam who preached a nonviolent variety of Salafi Islam Yasir Qadhi, “An Illegal and Counterproductive Assassination,” The New York Times, October 1, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/02/opinion/sunday/assassinating-al-awlaki-was-counterproductive.html.
“When America kills its own without a trial,” he wrote Ed Husain, “U.S. Shouldn’t Have Killed al-Awlaki,” CNN, September 30, 2011, http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/30/opinion/husain-awlaki-killing/.
It turned out that the would-be airliner bomber was in fact a Saudi-born
double agent Scott Shane and Eric Schmitt, “Double Agent Disrupted Bombing Plot, U.S. Says,” The New York Times, May 8, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/world/middleeast/suicide-mission-volunteer-was-double-agent-officials-say.html.
the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, had found his violent ideology in Awlaki’s YouTube pronouncements Scott Shane, “A Homemade Style of Terror: Jihadists Push New Tactics,” The New York Times, May 5, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/us/terrorists-find-online-education-for-attacks.html.
Once, on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show “Barack Obama Pt. 2,” The Daily Show, October 18, 2012, http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/g36uvc/barack-obama-pt—2.
In an interview with the author Mark Bowden Mark Bowden, The Finish: The Killing of Osama Bin Laden (New York: Grove Press, 2012), 262.
“It turns out,” he said, “that I’m really good at killing people” A version of this comment was first reported by Mark Helprin and John Heilemann in Double Down: Game Change 2012 (New York: Penguin, 2013). An administration official told me that he had heard the president make similar remarks on several occasions.
the number of civilians killed in Pakistan in 2013 and 2014 was zero or very near zero The data collected by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can be found at “Get the Data: Drone Wars,” http://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/category/projects/drones/drones-graphs/.
One huge fan, however, was Saleh’s replacement as Yemeni president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi Scott Shane, “Yemen’s Leader Praises U.S. Drone Strikes,” The New York Times, September 29, 2012, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/world/middleeast/yemens-leader-president-hadi-praises-us-drone-strikes.html.
