This kind of warning always follows a victory in the struggle against jihad — as if to suggest that if only we didn’t resist, they wouldn’t be fighting us. In any case, they hardly need to fight us when the ACLU is fighting us well enough on its own, as you can see below, and as Obama continues to purvey the delusion that Yemen is an ally and that the jihad against the U.S. is being pursued only by a few lone nuts in al-Qaeda. “U.S. officials warn of possible retaliation after al Qaeda cleric is killed,” from CNN, September 30:
Washington (CNN) — The killings Friday of alleged terrorists cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and computer expert Samir Khan could spark retaliatory attacks against the United States, according to the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.
The agencies issued a joint intelligence bulletin late Friday that said supporters might seek to portray al-Awlaki as a martyr in a supposed U.S. war against Islam. It says the deaths “could provide motivation for homeland attacks” by “homegrown violent extremists,” the type the two men allegedly tried to recruit or inspire.
The bulletin came less than a day after U.S. and Yemeni government officials announced that al-Awlaki — an American whose fluency with English and technology made him a top terrorist recruiter — was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.
“It was a joint U.S. military-intelligence operation,” a U.S. official said, adding that the U.S. military helped target al-Awlaki and that manned American military aircraft were flying overhead ready to offer assistance. The drone was operated by the CIA, officials said.
The strike also killed Khan, an American, and two others who were in the same vehicle as al-Awlaki, said another U.S. official who was briefed by the CIA. Khan specialized in computer programming for al Qaeda and produced the terrorist network’s English-language online magazine, Inspire. […]
U.S. President Barack Obama called al-Awlaki’s death a “major blow” to al Qaeda, reeling still from the killing and capture this year of several top leaders, most notably bin Laden.
“His hateful ideology and targeting of innocent civilians has been rejected by the vast majority of Muslims and people of all faiths and he has met his demise because the government and the people of Yemen have joined the international community in a common effort against al Qaeda,” Obama said.
He said al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, remains a dangerous but weakened organization. “Working with Yemen and our other allies and partners, we will be determined, we will be deliberate, we will be relentless, we will be resolute in our commitment to destroy terrorist networks that aim to kill Americans,” Obama said. […]
The American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that the killing was part of an American counterterrorism program that “violates both U.S. and international law.
“This is a program under which American citizens far from any battlefield can be executed by their own government without judicial process,” said ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer.
But Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Maryland, said al-Awlaki was on a “special list” of individuals attempting to attack the United States that is approved by the National Security Council and the president. Targeting those individuals is legal and legitimate, said Ruppersberger, the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, who was in Yemen two months ago.
He called Khan’s death collateral damage: “He just happened to be in the vehicle.”…