Letter: A Different Kind of War
To the Editor:
There has been considerable discussion of the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki by an American drone. We have seen a typical objection to this “extralegal” killing in a letter by John Karol in the Feb. 28 Valley News (“The Value of McCoy Cartoons”).
If an American had been driving a German tank in World War II, we would have blown it up anyway. If that American had been captured, he would have been executed for treason.
Awlaki, an American, was a leader in a new kind of war against America. He was a prominent leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, located in Yemen.
It was no accident that the destroyer Cole was the target of a suicide attack by an explosives-laden motor launch in the Yemen harbor of Aden, killing many American sailors and seriously damaging the guided-missile warship.
Osama bin Laden declared war with his 1993 fatwa, a religious declaration of war. The first attack on the Twin Towers soon followed. Awlaki was a leader in bin Laden’s army.
Jeffrey Hart
Lyme
