Yemen Says al Qaeda-Linked Cleric al-Awlaki Killed By Airstrike

It's a good riddance kind of day because once again, another radical Muslim terrorist loses his life via a United States air strike.

Washington Times: U.S. Air strike kills al Qaeda cleric al-Awlaki

Excerpt:

However al-Awlaki was killed, his death will be “a significant blow” to the group, said Ben Venzke of IntelCenter, a private firm that tracks extremist messaging for clients, including U.S. agencies.

“It will especially impact the group’s ability to recruit, inspire and raise funds as al-Awlaki’s influence and ability to connect to a broad demographic of potential supporters was unprecedented,” said Mr. Venzke.

Al-Awlaki rose to prominence as al Qaeda’s English-speaking voice and principal Web propagandist, spreading its ideology via a blog, social media posts and Internet videos.

He was in e-mail contact with Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan and is believed to have a inspired the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, that Maj. Hassan is accused of committing.

But a U.S. official told The Washington Times on Friday that al-Awlaki was “directly involved in planning attacks against the United States.”

Those attacks include the failed attempt by the so-called underwear bomber to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009 and the failed plot to send bombs hidden in printer cartridges to the United States in October last year.

“Awlaki and AQAP are also responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Yemen and throughout the region, which have killed scores of Muslims,” said the U.S. official, “His death takes a committed terrorist, intent on attacking the United States, off the battlefield.”

Continue reading HERE.

I first heard about this terrorist's death at about 1:30 a.m. PT last night. I woke up at that time and was unable to go back to sleep right away, so I turned on the T.V. and found out that al-Awlaki was killed. What a wasted life. He grew up and dedicated his own life to recruit more Muslim terrorists - and his bully pulpit at one time was as an imam in a U.S. mosque in Falls Church, Virginia! Doesn't this give you pause as to how many other radical imams are lurking in the United States under the cover of being a "cleric" in a Muslim mosque?

In this article, we learn more information:

Excerpt:

Al-Awlaki, born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents, was believed to be key in turning al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen into what American officials have called the most significant and immediate threat to the Untied States. The branch, led by a Yemeni militant named Nasser al-Wahishi, plotted several failed attacks on U.S. soil — the botched Christmas 2009 attempt to blow up an American airliner heading to Detroit and a foiled 2010 attempt to main explosives to Chicago.

Known as an eloquent preacher who spread English-language sermons on the Internet calling for “holy war” against the United States, al-Awlaki’s role was to inspire and — it is believed — even directly recruit militants to carry out attacks.

He was not believed to be a key operational leader, but as a spokesman. His English skills gave him reach among second and third generation Muslims who may not speak Arabic.

Yemeni officials have said al-Awlaki had contacts with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the accused would-be Christmas plane bomber, who was in Yemen in 2009. They say the believe al-Awlaki met with the 23-year-old Nigerian, along with other al Qaeda leaders, in al Qaeda strongholds in the country in the weeks before the failed bombing.

In New York, the Pakistani-American man who pleaded guilty to the May 2010 Times Square car bombing attempt told interrogators he was “inspired” by al-Awlaki after making contact over the Internet.

Al-Awlaki also exchanged up to 20 emails with U.S. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, alleged killer of 13 people in the Nov. 5, 2009, rampage at Fort Hood. Hasan initiated the contacts, drawn by al-Awlaki’s Internet sermons, and approached him for religious advice.

Al-Awlaki has said he didn’t tell Hasan to carry out the shootings, but he later praised Hasan as a “hero” on his Web site for killing American soldiers who would be heading for Afghanistan or Iraq to fight Muslims. The cleric similarly said Abdulmutallab was his “student” but said he never told him to carry out the airline attack.

This guy was blatantly evil. He was a false prophet in a false religion, attempting to appear as an "allah-godly" Muslim cleric.

John MacArthur's book The Truth War describes such men as al-Awlaki in a chapter called "The Evil of False Teaching."

In a previous post where I discussed some of this chapter, I ended with this fact:

But don't imagine for a moment that God is fooled or His plans are really thwarted by the subtleties of lying, false teachers. In fact, consider the implications of all the various biblical warnings and prophecies declaring that false teachers will arise from the church. In Jesus' words, "Take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand" (Mark 13:23). These are not merely warnings designed to make us fearful; they are also prophecies that prove God knows what He is doing. He has a plan for the false teachers too. He will accomplish all His good pleasure despite their best efforts. And because Christ Himself is building His church, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. The power of darkness cannot win the Truth War.

People who get caught up in false religions, especially those with radicalized and evil beliefs, do so because they have outwardly rejected the true God of the Bible.

MacArthur:

God doesn't need to infuse evil intentions into a false teacher's heart to seal that person's apostasy and thus fulfill the divine decree. God simply withdraws the light of His truth, the influence of His Spirit, and the mercy of His grace--and the evildoer's own evil motives are sufficient to guarantee his own doom. He confounds unbelievers' vision. God also sometimes withholds or obscures the truth from those who hate truth anyway. In effect, He "blinds" them (John 9:39; 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Of course, bright light can be as blinding as utter darkness. "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it" (John 1:5). When God sovereignly blinds someone who already loves darkness more than light (John 3:19), it certainly doesn't mean God Himself is operating in the realm of darkness or that there is any darkness in Him (1 Timothy 6:16).

[E]very evil motive behind every sinful act stems from the fallen creature, never from God.

Of course, God's own motives, purposes, and actions are emphatically pure and holy all the time (Genesis 50:20). He accomplishes good in and through all things (Romans 8:28) -- and that includes all the evil done by all the powers of darkness. So while God may properly be said to "foreordain," "predetermine," or "decree" the actions of evildoers (2 Samuel 12:11; 16:10; Acts 2:23; e:27-28), He does not approve the evil in the act. "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5). The will to sin always stems from the sinner's own heart, not from God. He is never the authors or efficient cause of evil.

Hat Tips:

Washington Times

The Truth War