Imam Anwar al Awlaki is dead. He was killed because our government targeted him as an enemy. Let’s see; he held two key roles in the murky arena of international Jihadist terrorism. First, he was one of the emerging leaders of al Qaeda after we killed Osama. He had built a network of recruits who worked around the Mideast and the US. Al Awlaki was one of the most effective al Qaeda international operators. He will be sorely missed by the bad guys.
But his other position is even more important to Americans. The New Mexico-born terrorist had established a web of American citizens committed to Jihadist terror here in the US. The terrorist who tried to blow up a car in Times Square and Major Hassan, who murdered more than a dozen soldiers at Ft Hood are just two examples of his efforts. His writings, his speeches, and his savvy knowledge of American culture made him the “emir” of US Jihadists. Thus, killing him was in a strike at the head of the most dangerous enemy network operating inside America, not just internationally.
There is one presidential candidate who, along with the mainstream media, is handwringing about how he (and other like-minded American citizens), were taken out without “due process.” This for individuals who forthrightly, publicly, and often said they wanted to overthrow the government of the United States and make it an Islamic state. Let’s see, this is the same group of like-minded (that doesn’t mean that they like each other—only that they share a common enemy—the USA) jihadists who blew a hole in the USS Cole and, among other things, did 9-11. Gee, this sounds like war to me. Where you were born has little to do with how we should treat you if you’re trying to destroy our nation and kill our citizens. I’m sure some of the Nazis our troops fought and killed in WWII had been born in the USA. In my mind, and, I’ve been told, in the mind of our Department of Justice, he was an enemy combat commander—a reasonable target. I, for one, am proud that we killed this self proclaimed traitor for committing his treasonous acts.
This brings up one final point. The US Congress has not declared war since WWII. Since then, the president has acted (he had to have this ability, because we were/are in the age of ICBMs which can be launched and strike before Congress could meet, much less act) and Congress approved by simply funding the actions. These actions have included the Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf I and II, to mention but a few. It certainly includes Bush’s Global War On Terror (GWOT), which was never declared. Now, everyone in the world knows that Radical Islam, Granted, this is the first war against other than another nations or group of nations. The jihadists say they’re at war with us over and over again in the media and elsewhere. We are so Politically Correct that we won’t name Radical Islam as our enemy. Further, we won’t go through the effort of getting Congress to declare war. I think that the major lesson to be learned here is that it’s time to get Congress to declare war when we’re at war. Then there would be no question about properly building and funding our military, beginning a draft, or killing all who are fighting us. This is the one valid point that the whiners about al Awlaki’s death hold; we are not legally at war.
So, let’s make it clear to the world that if you seek to destroy our nation and kill our people, we will kill you, regardless of where you are born. And let’s declare war to make the whole thing legal, proper and formal.
