Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has authorized the killing of a radical Muslim cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen believed to be hiding in Yemen and thought to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the U.S. to joining in them, say published reports.
Al-Awlaki has emerged as a prominent al-Qaeda recruiter and has been tied by U.S. intelligence to the Sept. 11 hijackers, the Nigerian accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, as well as the Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in November at Fort Hood, Texas.
It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for an American to be approved for targeted killing, officials told The New York Times in a report posted online late Tuesday.
