administration is willing to conduct a serious and objective investigation by considering two factors: one, whether they will hold administration officials responsible and, two, whether the investigation is completed before the general election. reporter: attorney general holder has appointed two u.s. attorneys, one to the iran leak, the other to the al-qaeda mole leak. there is no investigation on the president s kill or capture list, jenna, and there s also no public timetable for when these investigations will conclude. jenna: a very important story for all of us, catherine. thank you. reporter: you re welcome. jon: remember the panic onboard the plane as a pilot had sort of a meltdown in the cockpit and then in the aisles? well, now there s new information on what might have sparked his frightening tirade about religion, terrorism and bringing down that plane.
the default option of this administration is to kill all prisoners. take no prisoners. the drones. the drones. how could it be more ethical to kill people rather than capture them? i never understood that one. reporter: in october last year three americans including the first american on the cia s kill or capture list, anwar al-alaki was killed by drone strikes in yemen. jon: he makes an interesting point. what is the response that interview? reporter: in a statement, aclu saying quote, no policy in the last decade brought more shame on america like bush he s administration s embrace of torture. jose rodriguez attempts to justify the brutal abuse of prisoners while ignoring its illegality and its immorality and damage it has done to our national security. after the obama administration came into office they banned permanent use of eits or enhanced interrogation techniques. jon: argument goes on.
he was old guard al-qaeda who had trained in usama bin laden s camps in afghanistan before 9/11. these operatives who had direct links to bin laden are considered the core leadership that is actively targeting the u.s. right now we re working to confirm a photo who handled logistics for yemen. he was caught over the weekend in the same area where the american cleric was killed on september 30th. he was implicated for this attack on the lindbergh that was struck by al-qaeda in october of 2002 off the coast of yemen. nearly two years to the day that the uss cole was struck by a suicide bomber in the same region. in this attack, one crew member was killed and another 12 injured. as fox was first to report earlier this month, u.s. officials confirm that al-qaeda in yemen is stronger and more of a threat to the u.s. today than it was six months ago. despite the death of this man, anwar al-awlaki, the first american on the cia s kill or
idaho where she happened to be where when this story broke today. catherine, we know anwar al-awlaki was the first united states citizen ever put on this capture or kill list. was he the only one. based on my reporting, shep. i know that serious consideration was being given to putting samir khan on that list. i asked john brennan two weeks ago if they were considering this and they did not comment. late thisfternoon, a military source suggested to me that there may be as many as three other americans on that list but the cia would not comment on that tonight, shep. shepard: so, is there a definitive answer on whether this is legal? well, here s the problem. today the white house launched an attack on an american citizen which effectively made the president judge, jury and executioner for that american. and, at the same time, the obama administration has wanted to take the five 9/11 suspects, all foreign-born, including the self-described architect of that attack khalid sheikh mo
demeanor. as you pointed out, born in new mexico, he returned to yemen when he was seven years old, and then came back after about 11 or 12 years to attend college in colorado. but because of that, because of his western appearance, because of his fiery rhetoric, and his text savvy tech savvy, he was the face of what many have called al-qaeda 2. o, but more importantly, he morphed into an operational role. he rose up into a very important position within probably the most important al-qaeda branch out there right now, al-qaeda of the arabian peninsula, and one of his primary functions was to strat guys and to plan for attacks outside, against the west. so this is a very important day. bill: you know that he was on the cia s kill or capture list. yes. bill: you also know he was the first american citizen on this list. how significant is that, mike? well, i mean, it s interesting. a number of civil liberties groups made much about this fact that he s a u.s.