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. 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)
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