Desperate to try to prove to the West that they are doing something about al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni government today did what the US government has so far refused to, charged Anwar Awlaki with an actual crime. We are assured by most media reports that the two incidents are connected, though there has yet to be any publicly released evidence tying Awlaki to AQAP, it is merely a popular assertion among US hawks.
The New Mexico born Awlaki made headlines early in the year by being the first American citizen to be confirmed to be on President Obama’s assassination list. Legal complaints insisting Awlaki can’t be assassinated without being charged with some sort of actual crime have been rejected by administration officials as inappropriate meddling in the assassination process.
But the charges are totally distinct from anything AQAP related, and instead are being shoehorned into the trial of Hisham Assem, a 19 year old murder suspect Allawi never met and apparently never even spoke to. Assem is charged with the murder of a Frenchman last month, and while officials claim the killing was “for personal reasons” they have nonetheless termed it terrorism.
But where Awlaki comes in is even more convoluted. According to media reports, Assem had been exchanging emails with a member of the massive Awlaki tribe, a distant cousin of the US-born cleric’s. The other Awlaki had sent Assem links to online sermons by Anwar condemning the US occupations in the Middle East.
And because the speech was critical of the US, and because the guy Assem killed was a foreigner, Awlaki is being charged with “promoting violence and the killing of foreigners,” entirely on the basis of the content of his speeches.
Which must inevitably spark a new debate about whether the Obama Administration is simply planning to assassinate Awlaki for his criticism of US foreign policy. The administration insists this is not the case but there is a paucity of evidence that he ever did anything else, and even know that he has been charged with something akin to an actual “crime” it is purely a crime of speech, and purely on the basis of publicly available sermons
This is an extension of our 'hate crimes' laws….Guilt by speech.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story- and this is indeed a grand tale of terrorism, cut from the thinnest of spiderwebs. If Awlaki is being hounded for his speech advocating killings and such, why aren't US politicians and pundits being rounded for their own hate-filled rantings? Terrorism is terrorism, and hate speech is hate speech, no matter where it comes from, right? RIGHT? I guess if it's 'one of them' it's terrorism, but if it's 'one of us' it's patriotic fervor.