Texas Governor and GOP candidate Rick Perry celebrated the death of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki on Friday. After learning of Awlaki’s death, Perry’s campaign released a statement praising the US military, the US Intelligence Community and President Barack Obama for the successful elimination of one of al Qaeda’s top propagandists. Perry congratulated Obama “for sticking with the government’s longstanding and aggressive anti-terror policies – for getting another key international terrorist.”
Awlaki was the victim of a joint US-CIA military operation on Friday. Awlaki and Samir Khan were killed by a drone strike in Yemen. Perry’s reaction to Awlaki’s death was much different than Texas Congressman Ron Paul’s reaction to the news. While campaigning in New Hampshire, Paul told reporters that “to start assassinating American citizens without charges, we should think very seriously about this.”
Perry called Awlaki’s death an “important victory in the war on terror.” In May, a team of US Navy SEALs raided Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan and killed al Qaeda’s top leader. Awlaki was also an important figure for al Qaeda, because of his ability to reach out to young Muslims in the West.
Fluent in English, Awlaki was able to utilize YouTube and “Inspire” to radicalize young Muslims. “Inspire” is an online magazine published in English by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. As of Friday, a few of Awlaki’s videos were still on YouTube. “Al-Awlaki was the next generation of al Qaida who spread his message of violence and hate over the Internet. His death will be a serious setback for their organization,” Perry said.
While Awlaki’s death will be difficult for al Qaeda to recover from, the US is also concerned about the threat of an act of terrorism from an individual. With al Qaeda’s leadership in shambles, US officials continue to search for individuals like Rezwan Ferdaus; the Massachusetts man who wanted to fly small drones in the Pentagon and the US Capitol. “We must remain vigilant, and make sure we bring every resource and tool to bear in the fight to keep Americans safe,” Perry said.
While Awlaki was never formally charged with anything, Perry argued that his role in radicalizing a number of known terrorists was enough to target him. “Al-Awlaki was instrumental in the radicalization of Major Nidal Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter, as well as other domestic terror plots,” Perry said.