Al Qaida is bashing the Obama administration for killing cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and propagandist Samir Khan in a drone strike last month. Both were American citizens.
The terrorist group that has killed over 3,000 Americans acknowledged the deaths of both men while saying that the drone strike, authorized by a secret memo from the Justice Department, The Washington Post reported, “contradicts” U.S. law. (RELATED: Al Qaida to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Stop pitching 9/11 conspiracy theories)
“Where are what they keep talking about regarding freedom, justice, human rights and respect of freedoms?!” the group said in a statement.
Khan’s family has said that their son was “a law-abiding citizen of the United States.”
Presidential candidate Ron Paul has called the killing of al-Awlaki an “assassination.”
“Al-Awlaki was born here, he is an American citizen. He was never tried or charged for any crimes,” Paul told MSNBC. “No one knows if he killed anybody. We know he might have been associated with the underwear bomber. But if the American people accept this blindly and casually that we now have an accepted practice of the president assassinating people who he thinks are bad guys, I think it’s sad.”
2004 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Nolan told TheDC that the U.S. “didn’t try this guy, we just executed him.”