Official: Awlaki Now Bigger Threat Than Bin Laden
Politico reports:
American-born Islamic cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki and his group, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, now pose a more serious terrorist threat inside the U.S. than the original Al Qaeda group led by Osama bin Laden, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said Wednesday.
National Counterterrorism Center Director Michael Leiter described the group as “probably the most significant risk to the U.S. homeland” in testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee.
Leiter was responding to a question from the committee’s chairman, Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), who asked whether the Yemen-based Al Qaeda offshoot is now a greater threat than bin Laden. “I’m hesitant to rank them,” Leiter said as he continued his answer, before adding that Awlaki “certainly is the most well-known English-speaking ideologue who is speaking directly to folks here in the homeland.”
“There are several others who we’re concerned with but I think al-Awlaki probably does have the greatest audience,” Leiter added. “So, in that sense, he is the most important.”
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