The United States has now killed three of its citizens in Yemen in the past month as a result of unmanned aerial strikes carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

 

Following the deaths in late September of Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born cleric, and Samir Khan, an al-Qaeda propagandist from North Carolina, an American drone strike on October 14 killed Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, the 16-year-old son of the cleric. At the time, the U.S. government led the media to believe that Abdulrahman was at least 21 years old.

 

The al-Awlaki family released to the media a copy of Abdulrahman’s birth certificate, which shows he was born in Denver, Colorado, in 1995, to disprove the Obama administration’s assertion that he was a twenty-something militant. Relatives claim the son was killed while “barbecuing under the moonlight” with other teenagers, including his 17-year-old cousin, who was a Yemeni citizen.

 

(The spelling of the family name on the birth certificate is Aulaqi, but most American news organizations use the spelling Awlaki.)

 

Back on November 5, 2002, a CIA drone strike in Yemen killed another American citizen, Buffalo-born Kamal Derwish, because he was traveling in the same vehicle as the intended target, Abu Ali al-Harithi, a Yemeni accused of being part of the October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Awlaki Family Releases Teen's Birth Certificate (by Peter Finn, Washington Post)

Awlaki Family Condemns Killing of Cleric’s Son (by Jason Ukman, Washington Post)

Abdulrahman al-Awlaki's Birth Certificate (Washington Post)

Abdulrahman Anwar Al Awlaki, Locked in Our Hearts (Facebook)