Abu Ali al-Harithi
Abu Ali al-Harithi (Arabic: أبو علي الحاريثي ) (b.? – †November 3, 2002) was a citizen of Yemen and al-Qaida operative who is suspected to have been the mastermind behind the October 2000 USS Cole bombing.[1][2][3][4] He was killed by the CIA during a covert targeted killing mission in Yemen on November 3, 2002. The CIA used an RQ-1 Predator remote-controlled drone to shoot the Hellfire missile that killed al-Harithi and five other al-Qaida operatives as they rode in a vehicle 100 miles (160 km) east of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Al-Harithi was traveling with Ahmed Hijazi, a US citizen, and Hijazi's killing was the first known case of the U.S. government intentionally killing a U.S. citizen during the "War on Terror".[1][2][3][4]
The Bush Presidency, citing the authority of a presidential finding that permitted worldwide covert actions against Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network, considered al-Harithi and his traveling party a justifiable military target.[1][2][3][4] It was reported that the Yemeni intelligence service had monitored them for months, and relayed the information to the Americans. Tribesmen in Marib province said a Yemeni air force helicopter was hovering over the area moments before the explosion occurred. The late and then foreign minister of Sweden, Anna Lindh said "If the USA is behind this with Yemen's consent, it is nevertheless a summary execution that violates human rights. If the USA has conducted the attack without Yemen's permission it is even worse. Then it is a question of unauthorised use of force." However, Anthony D'Amato, a professor of international law at Northwestern University in Chicago and litigator at the European Court of Human Rights, said a lack of Yemeni consent would probably not have affected the legality of the attack. "In a war you have the right to shoot the combatants of the other side, and one of the things Bush accomplished when he called it a war against terrorism was to turn questions like this in his favor." If Washington had substantive evidence that the six were al-Qaida members, Yemen would effectively be "harbouring" them, making its consent immaterial according to precedents established as far back as the Vietnam war.[5]
References
- ^ a b c "'Lackawanna 6' Link To Yemen Killings?". CBS News. November 8, 2002. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
- ^ a b c Walter Pincus (November 6, 2002). "US missiles kill al Qaeda suspects". The Age. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
- ^ a b c Jeffrey Addicott (November 7, 2002). "The Yemen Attack: Illegal Assassination or Lawful Killing?". The Jurist. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
- ^ a b c Dana Priest (November 8, 2002). "U.S. Citizen Among Those Killed In Yemen Predator Missile Strike". Washington Post. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
- ^ Brian Whitaker, Oliver Burkeman (November 6, 2002). "Killing probes the frontiers of robotics and legality: 'War on terror' tag allows US to attack anywhere, lawyer argues". The Guardian. Retrieved September 20, 2007.
External links
- Steve Scher on Weekday February 23, 2007 KUOW-FM interviews James Bamford on the National Security Agency (Note: minutes 21–24 of 54 minute audio)
 | This Yemeni biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |