the accused ft. hood attacker, u.s. major anadal hasan and three 9/11 hijackers and faisal shahzad. the death of awlaki is a major blow to al qaeda s most active operational affiliate. awlaki was the leader of external operations for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. in that role he took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent americans. reporter: for more on awlaki, the al qaeda off shoot he represented and where we go from here, i want to bring in cnn s international correspondent nic robertson. nic, this was a huge development. why was awlaki such a threat and a priority for the snus. he was an intellectual. he was smart. he was well educated. he knew how to sort of manipulate his audience and the one thing that he had that al qaeda really wanted was a way to communicate the potential recruits in the west. he spoke english and he spoke it with a charisma and a meaning that drew in radicals or potential radicals towards al qaeda. and really that
most americans see it for what it is why the president had to put it into a speech that was primarily memorializing. he had great moments in the speech. i would agree. it was very moving. bill: what would you have liked to have heard from the president that could have made the speech an a from a b ? i think again, the solemnity of the moment for loss of life is required, right? i know college campus and you can t control everything but the white house can control. when you have t-shirts printed up and the president of the university introducing him like the kickoff like the 2012 campaign in iowa, i think it s weird. bill: everybody pointed out the college didn t understand what the event was. you know what the president could have done and caller said today, great point, a guy from
most americans see it for what it is why the president had to put it into a speech that was primarily memorializing. he had great moments in the speech. i would agree. it was very moving. bill: what would you have liked to have heard from the president that could have made the speech an a from a b ? i think again, the solemnity of the moment for loss of life is required, right? i know college campus and you can t control everything but the white house can control. when you have t-shirts printed up and the president of the university introducing him like the kickoff like the 2012 campaign in iowa, i think it s weird. bill: everybody pointed out the college didn t understand what the event was. you know what the president could have done and caller said today, great point, a guy from
most americans see it for what it is why the president had to put it into a speech that was primarily memorializing. he had great moments in the speech. i would agree. it was very moving. bill: what would you have liked to have heard from the president that could have made the speech an a from a b ? i think again, the solemnity of the moment for loss of life is required, right? i know college campus and you can t control everything but the white house can control. when you have t-shirts printed up and the president of the university introducing him like the kickoff like the 2012 campaign in iowa, i think it s weird. bill: everybody pointed out the college didn t understand what the event was. you know what the president could have done and caller said
night. speaking to the audience that didn t understand they were attending a memorial service. the president hit all the right points in defining the terrible atrocity that took place last saturday. first of all he addressed points. scripture tells us there is evil in the world and terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. in the work of job, when i looked for light and then came darkness. bad things happen. we have to guard against simple explanations in the aftermath. president obama went on to say that crimes like murder are incomprehensible and assigning blame without evidence is irresponsible. he then defined the current controversy where far left zell on the blame the crimes on conservatives.