POLITICO: Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and an alleged terror suspect with links to al Qaeda in Yemen, was killed today.
Does the al-Awlaki hit – following the May 2011 takeout of Osama bin Laden – undercut charges by Republican presidential candidates that President Barack Obama hasn’t been aggressive enough in the fight against terrorism? And will this hasten calls to withdraw troops from Afghanistan to focus instead on terror threats in Yemen and elsewhere?
BENJAMIN: The death of any human being diminishes all of us. But Anwar Al-Awlaki and Samir Khan countenanced, counseled and plotted the deaths of their fellow Americans. President Obama has both constitutional and moral obligations to protect Americans from “enemies both foreign and domestic.”
Unlike some GOP candidates, President Obama does not see all Arabs and Muslims as enemies of America and the West. And unlike the neo-isolationist GOP candidates, Obama sees the value of engaging with the Muslim world, Europe and the U.N. Obama is proving that self-defense and global cooperation can indeed go hand-in-hand.
The drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan are unrelated to this event in Yemen or counter-terrorism activities across the globe. The DoD, CIA and Homeland Security can multitask.
Our domestic policy needs the same kind of focus and operational advisers. President Obama and the American people deserve cooperation from Wall Street and the business elites of our nation in overcoming the economic threat posed by this double-dip recession.
Do you think President Obama made the right decision in ordering the drone attack?
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