Ron Paul is wrong about dead Al Qaida terrorist

by Justen Charters

The fact that I strongly disagree with Ron Paul on foreign policy- or lack thereof- has probably dubbed me a Neo-con or a Rockefeller Republican by his supporters.  So before you get out the Guy Fawkes mask and declare total war through your keyboards, take off the tin foil hat and hear me out.

On Friday we received word that one of the highest ranking members of Al Qaida, Anwar al-Awlaki, had been killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen.  In a world where we still hold people accountable for their actions, this kind of news should not upset anyone, but rather give them added peace of mind.

CAIR (the Council On American and Islamic Relations), which is known to have ties to terrorist groups like Hamas, had this to say regarding al-Awlaki’s death:

“As we have stated repeatedly in the past, the American Muslim community firmly repudiated Anwar al-Awlaki’s incitement to violence, which occurred after he left the United States. While a voice of hate has been eliminated, we urge our nation’s leaders to address the constitutional issues raised by the assassination of American citizens without due process of law.”

2012 GOP Presidential Candidate Ron Paul responded to the news by making this statement in New Hampshire:

“Awlaki was never tried or charged for any crimes. No one knows if he killed anybody.  He may have been associated with the Underwear Bomber”

Their argument is Anwar should be given a fair trial because he was an American citizen.  And as you can see from CAIR’s quote they say his incitement to violence occurred after he left the United States.

But wait; Awlaki left the United States in 2002.  Is it just coincidental that…

3 out of the 5 of the hijackers that crashed Flight 77 into the Pentagon considered al-Awlaki a spiritual advisor and attended his San Diego Mosque.  The Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hassan who killed 13 people and wounded 29 others a month before he would have been deployed to Afghanistan went to al-Awlaki’s mosque in Falls Church.  Hassan also exchanged emails with Awlaki, only God knows what was in those emails but I don’t think they were in a standard pen pal relationship.  Futhermore, the 2005 London Subway Bombers translated lectures of Awlaki’s at the same time as they were plotting the bombings, and his materials were found with apprehended co-conspirators of the suicide bombers.

Awlaki’s supporters described him as a master orator who could easily draw young Arabs to his cause.

Awlaki was to Al Qaida what an SS Colonel was to the Third Reich.  Ron Paul wants to try him as a common criminal instead of an enemy combatant.  Remember he said, “No one knows if he killed anybody.”

So for Ron Paul’s sake, let’s say Awlaki never took a human life,  which I highly doubt. How many orders has he issued to murder innocent people?  How much poison has he injected into those who sat under his tutelage which inspired acts of violence?  How many more terrorists will sit in the interrogation room and admit to having Awlaki influence their motives?  Or, GOD FORBID how many more terror plots will be carried out successfully with the investigation afterward unveiling Awlaki as a main driving force for the Jihadist?

In addition Ron Paul has said, “Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida have been explicit — they have been explicit, and they wrote and said that ‘we attacked America because you had bases on our holy land in Saudi Arabia, you do not give Palestinians fair treatment…’”

Ron Paul’s assertion is incorrect.  Al-Qaida recruits are students of Wahhabi Islam.  Wahhabi Islam was founded in the early 18th century by Muhammad ibn Abd-al Wahhab and was a new ideology that preached a brand of purification Islam. Call it the Aryan belief system for Islamists. Anyone who did not acknowledge this new ideology was deemed apart from the branches of Islam – an apostate, deserter or heathen, which permitted their blood to be spilled and their property to be confiscated.  Although Wahhabi Islam is a narrow sect of Islam as a whole, it has influenced a number of terror organizations and infamous Jihadists, such as al-Awlaki.

My opinion: al-Awlaki’s hands are dripping in just as much blood as all those whom he persuaded to murder the innocent.  If you can’t see that, your moral compass needs to be replaced.  And that goes for all those who support Ron Paul’s lukewarm position on terrorism too.

Justen Charters is a 24 year old political activist. In the last six months, despite battling an immunity disorder, he has been a major contributor on social networking sites such as youtube, facebook and twitter. His youtube channel has videos that are frequently featured on Patriot Action Network, one of the largest conservative social networking sites, and he’s one of the most followed bloggers on Red County.