You Can Run But Not Hide

Especially if your name is Anwar al-Awlaki.

Born in the United States to parents of Yemeni origins.  His parents returned to Yemen when he was 7.  He lived in Yemen for 11 years then returned to the United States to attend university.  He graduated Colorado State University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering and was the President of the University's Muslim Students Union.  He was a leader in al-Qaeda and took over leadership of the organization when Bin Ladin was killed.

al-Awlaki was the English voice of al-Qaeda.

The U.S.-born terror mastermind Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed, Fox News confirms.

The government of the Republic of Yemen officially announced the death, saying Awlaki was targeted and killed about 5 miles from the town of Khashef in the Province of Jawf.

The operation was launched earlier today at around 9:55 AM, local time.

Yemeni security and tribal officials said an air strike thought to have been carried out by U.S. aircraft on Friday targeted a convoy of cars traveling in the eastern province of Marib but could not say whether al-Awlaki was in the convoy.

The 40-year-old al-Awlaki is believed to have inspired and even plotted or helped coordinate some of the recent attacks on the U.S., including the failed Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner heading for Detroit, Michigan, and the also unsuccessful plot to send mail bombs on planes from Yemen to the United States in October.

The American-born son of Yemeni parents rose to prominence as Al-Qaeda's English-speaking voice and electronic messenger, spreading its terrorist credo via a blog, social media posts and email exchanges with such people as the U.S. Army major accused of a murderous shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

The Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square failed car bombing attempt told interrogators he was "inspired" by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet. Al-Awlaki was further believed to have had a hand in mail bombs addressed to Chicago-area synagogues, packages intercepted in Dubai and Europe in October 2010.

Yemen had in the past reported the deaths of Al-Qaeda leaders who were later found to be alive. Al-Awlaki was last reported to have been killed in December 2009.

Al-Awlaki is on a U.S. kill-or-capture list and is accused by Washington of inspiring several attacks in the United States.

The Yemeni officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share the information.

Yemen is the Arab world's most impoverished nation and has become a haven for Al-Qaeda militants.

Source

Yemen has claimed this kill.  The US claims it was done by a drone.  All that matters is this scumbag is dead and getting his just reward.

Piece of candy anyone?

American Hiker Sarah Shourd Ashamed of America

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

If American hikers Sarah Shourd was my daughter, or if Shane Bauer was my son, and was stashed away in the terrifying Evin prison in Tehran by the Iranian government, I would advise them to announce their engagement, since they have been lovers for some time now...long  before being arrested for breaching the Iranian border from Iraq. Being held in an Iranian prison is no longer news, but a love story is. Everyone loves a love story, maybe even Mahmoud Achmadinejad.

Josh Fattal, Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer

Both Shourd and Bauer have lived together in Damascus, Syria.Shourd and a male friend, perhaps Shane Bauer...or not, visited Yemen and while there, Sarah Shourd told an Iraqi family she isashamed everyday of what "my country [United States], has done to [Iraq]."

She has obvious sympathies for Palestinians and their treatment by Israel. Ms Shourd visited Yemen and in 2009 and won third place in a writing contest about the country and people. She wanted to the trip to be "memorable:" 

Of course there were the security concerns, westerners being kidnapped and sometimes even killed, but I decided that it was more likely I would get hit by a car while riding my bicycle at home, and bought my plane ticket.

While in Sana'a, Shourd noticed that the "love of God keeps people in line."

The separation of the sexes is widely understood as an attempt to protect women, and I have to admit, the streets do feel safe. Men leave you alone as long as you are covered; in a bizarre way it is less of a hassle being a woman here than anywhere I've ever been.

While in Yemen, Ms. Shourd visited Aden. She speaks of a male friend with her who is reading "The Shia Revival." Sarah and her friend are invited to dinner at the home of an Iraqi family who fled the country. Shourd apologizes to the family for what the United States has done to the country.

Shourd says she took risks in Yemen, as does everyone in "this brazen, tumultuous corner of our world."

In Damascus, Shourd teaches English in the Iraqi Student Project. She is reportedly learning the Arabic language. Sarah is a writer. A bio on one of her articles says she is a "teacher-activist-writer from California currently based in the Middle East."

The mothers of Shourd and Bauer, along with Laura Fattal, the mother of Josh Fattal who is held in Iran with his friends, were granted a visa to visit to their children. Of course, they hoped to bring the three back home with them, but predictably, that didn't happen. Instead, they brought back the news that Sarah and Shane will marry as soon as their freedom is granted. Josh will be the best man.

The best way to get these three home is to talk of the love story. I hope it works. I hope these three return safely to the US and their families soon. When that happens, I hope they pay their respects to the many, many Americans who have prayed for them, and worried about them by re-examining the meaning of freedom, democracy and decency. This unmarried western woman who lived with her boyfriend in an Arab country, must know that she is despised there; and outside of the American program she works for, she has no respect. Islam frowns on western women, let alone unmarried western women living in their midst with any man. Her shame for her country will gain her no favor in the eyes of Iranians. At the tender age of 31, Ms. Shourd and her friends are learning the difficult lesson that no matter where their sympathies lie, they are blessed to be citizens of the greatest and most benevolent country ever on the face of the earth, but...they are still infidels.

Related and Background:
Sarah Shourd is American Held in Iran
Shane Bauer is American Held in Iran

Americans Prisoners Convert to Islam - Travel to Yemen

A group of Americans, converted to Islam in American prisons, are believed to have traveled to Yemen for study of the Arabic language. The group is officially known as the Yemen 36.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee reports that our American intelligence says they "have lost track" of some of the men, but believe they are in Yemen.

But what's especially outrageous about the Yemen 36 is the very real possibility that they were fed their poison by folks collecting government paychecks as Muslim chaplains.

Our prisons are out-of-control with drugs, alcohol and murders rampant. Remember shoe bomber, Richard Reid? Now held in a maximum security penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, he eventually won the right to "worship" with other Muslims in the prison. There were measures in place to keep this from happening. A "Special Administrative Measure," known as a SAM expired...Eric Holder allowed it to expire, after Reid charged that his First Amendment rights were under assault.

Reid has an exclusive prayer circle. Ramzi Yousef and Zacarias Moussaoui, both convicted of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, both kneel and pray with Reid. Ahmed Ressan, the "Millennium" bomber and Jose Padilla, the Dirty Bomber, also known as Abdullah al-Muhajir and Muhajir Abdullah, shares their prayers with Richard Reid.

Here's some information from the New York Post on Muslim clerics inside our prisons:

 In 2003, Imam Warith Deen Umar, who until 2000 was essentially in charge of hiring Muslim chaplains for New York's state prisons, told The Wall Street Journal that the 9/11 hijackers should be honored as martyrs.

In 2006, Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil, the city's head Muslim prison chaplain, was caught by The Post preaching against "Zionists in the media" and the "terrorist" President Bush -- and kept his job.

 At an al Arabiya website, they talk of "another group" of 10 Americans in Yemen who are Islamic fundamentalists and have married Yemeni women.

Now we have the Yemen 36 who were radicalized inside American prisons. We let Muslim clerics inside our prisons and we pay them to radicalize. Are we nuts, or what? Now we must worry about these American men coming back into the country - but...intelligence has lost track of some of them! Do we know their Muslim names? Are they on a no-fly list?