the death of awlaki is a major blow to al qaeda s most active operational affiliate. anwar al awlaki was a long way from the home when the missile found him in yemen. born in new mexico and educated in the u.s., he radicalized and became a leader in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. implicated in many plots to kill americans, he was a top terror recruiter, awlaki s presence was felt in the ft. hood massacre. the alleged shooter, major nidal hasan is believed to have exchanged e-mails with awlaki before the rampage that left 13 people dead. awlaki is also linked to other terror plots, including the would-be underwear bomber s alleged plan to bring down a u.s. airliner two years ago, the plot to blow up u.s. cargo planes, and the attempt to set off a bomb in new york s times square. i consider al qaeda in the arabian peninsulas with awlaki as a leader within that organization probably the most significant risk to the u.s. homeland. we had always had a tremendous concer
major blow to al qaeda s most active operational affiliate. anwar al awlaki was a long way from the home when the missile found him in yemen. born in new mexico and educated in the u.s., he radicalized and became a leader in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. implicated in many plots to kill americans, he was a top terror recruiter, awlaki s presence was felt in reporter: the alleged shooter, major nidal hasan is believed to have exchanged e-mails with awlaki before the rampage that left 13 people dead. awlaki is also linked to other terror plots, including the would-be underwear bomber s alleged plan to bring down a usair liner two years ago, the plot to blow up u.s. cargo planes, and the attempt to set off a bomb in new york s times square. i consider al qaeda in the arabian peninsulas with awlaki as a leader within that organization probably the most significant risk to the u.s. homeland. we had always had a tremendous concern that after getting bin ladin that some
including the harrier jets being used ran low on fuel. today the drones fired hellfire missiles. it s unclear if they took off from the arabian peninsula. we are told they tracked anwar al-awlaki after he left a safe house 40 miles from the saud sa- from the saudi bored. a 25-year-old from north carolina who served as anwar al-awlaki s webmaster. this is how they described his killing. a very bad man had a very bad day. it s a good day for counter terrorism cooperation with the government of yemen. for some time the yemenis have played a key role in the hunt for al-awlaki. the president of yemen was
bill: will there be proof of a body? where does that all stands as much as we can report now. reporter: i have been told it s not going to be similar to bin laden where there will be some burial and there is no body in possession of u.s. officials. the u.s. officials i have spoken do say they have confirmation he s dead. they wouldn t reveal what their sources are or methods. that would give away too temperature tactics and operations. we can confirm that he s dead. but what s significant according to my defense sources, they went back to a traditional approach using standard predator drones. this is slightly different than the may 5 attempts to kill anwar al-awlaki. at that time there were harrier jets involved. a form of hell fire missile and
last may, u.s. officials tell abc news that the u.s. military dispatched harrier jets, predator drones, and a special operations aircraft to follow a pickup truck in which al awlaki was a passenger. but this mission would be marred by what an official described as a series of errors. crews tracking awlaki were unable to keep the laser which guides the weapons homed in on the moving truck. the first missile came from the special operations aircraft. it missed. that gave awlaki time to call additional al qaeda operatives for help. more missiles were fired from the harrrrrs and predator. a huge fireball engulfed the truck. but u.s. military trackers sat stunned as they watched the truck drive right out of the fireball to safety. the aircraft tried to keep