Dirty Wars Page #6

TV nearly a decade earlier,

just after 9/11.

ANWAR AL AWLAKI:

FALLS CHURCH, VA - 2001

And it was difficult

to reconcile

the image of a new bin Laden

with Awlaki's earlier sermons

condemning terrorism.

The fact that the U.S.

has administered

the death and homicide

of civilians in Iraq

does not justify the killing

of one U.S. Civilian

in New York City or

Washington, D.C.

For a short time, Awlaki

seemed like the go-to imam

for journalists

trying to understand

the experience of

American Muslims

in the wake of the attacks.

He was even profiled

by the Washington Post

for a piece about Ramadan.

After September 11th...

All of the feelings of

the American Muslims

were similar to everybody

else in America:

Feelings of sympathy

for the families of the victims

and a sense of...

That whoever did this needed

to be brought to justice.

A decade after this

video was filmed,

Awlaki had become Public

Enemy Number One,

his name at the very

top of the kill list.

It felt like the War on

Terror was turning on itself.

I was now investigating

the planned assassination

of a U.S. Citizen-

a watershed event.

SANA'A, YEMEN

For the first time,

I had the name of someone

on the kill list

who had not yet been killed.

Anwar al-Awlaki was

now a wanted man

hiding somewhere in the

mountains of Yemen.

I knew I wouldn't be able

to speak with Awlaki directly...

But through a series

of intermediaries,

I managed to set up a

meeting with his father.

I expected him to be reluctant

to speak about his son,

but he seemed happy to reminisce

about an earlier time.

Anwar was an all-American boy.

This is in Disneyland, you know,

in 1984, I think.

This is in San Diego when

he was already an imam

with a big beard, you know.

At that time, he was asking

Muslims to participate

in the democratic

process in America.

In fact, during the presidential

campaign of George Bush,

he thought the

conservative Republicans

will be better than the

liberal Democrats,

and he encouraged

the Muslims there

to elect George Bush.

Didn't he even, at one point,

attend a luncheon

at the Pentagon?

Yes.

You see, he liked America,

and he wanted to stay and

really-his life in America,

but things came differently.

Can you explain to me why

your son went into hiding?

After the incident

of al-Majalah

and Anwar was all over the news,

the drones started

to fly over Shabwah.

So, you know, Anwar

was really concerned.

And so we took his

family with us,

and he left to the mountains.

Hmm?

Myself, at this age in my life,

I really cannot ever replace,

you know, the role of my son

as he was doing for his family.

From my reading of the

history of your son,

from his writing,

it seemed as though there

was a transformation

that happened

politically for him

from 9/11 to the

invasion of Iraq.

Something started to

change in his tone.

Yes.

Anwar became popular

before September 11th

because his sermons

and his tapes,

you know, were very popular

all over the

English-speaking world.

And then the invasion

came in 2003,

and they invaded Iraq

and destroyed Iraq,

so Anwar really started

to be more vocal in his speeches

against what the

Americans were doing

against Muslims all

over the world.

There's no doubt that

your son praised

some of the attacks

against the U.S.

And for many Americans,

it was enough to say,

"Anwar al-Awlaki

is a terrorist. "

But also, I want

decent American lawyer

to tell me that it is right

for the United States government

to kill an American citizen

on the basis that

he said something

against the United States or

against American soldiers.

I mean, I-I don't understand.

I don't understand 100% the

American Constitution,

but I don't believe

American law will allow

the killing of an

American citizen

because he said something

against the United States.

Anwar's father may have

been calling for justice

under American law,

but American drones were

already flying overhead.

The fact that they were trying

to kill an American citizen

was shocking enough.

But there was another reason

Awlaki's story haunted me.

We are against evil,

and America as a whole

has turned into a

nation of evil.

How can your conscience

allow you to...

Awlaki seemed to have

embraced the very identity

he once opposed:

The military jacket,

the black flag,

the unequivocal call

for armed jihad.

I specifically invite the youth

to either fight in the West

or join their brothers

in the fronts of jihad.

The all-American boy was gone

and so was the moderate imam.

But why?

Awlaki was deeply affected

by the War on Terror

both abroad and at home.

The day after September 11th,

a woman stumbled into

his mosque in Virginia

after being beaten

with a baseball bat.

More than 1,200

Muslims were detained

across the country.

You have Muslims who

are locked up in jail

and are left to rot in there.

There are no charges

brought against them.

What have you done for them?

Awlaki resigned from

the mosque soon after

and left the country.

But the wars in Afghanistan

and Iraq followed.

And, well, this

is a new kind of-

a new kind of evil.

And this-this-this-this-

this crusade...

Is gonna take a while.

Awlaki began to see

the expanding wars

as part of a global

attack against Islam,

and his sermons reflected

a growing anger.

We are watching one Muslim

nation fall after another,

and we're watching,

sitting back,

doing nothing.

After 9/11,

Awlaki was put under

surveillance,

detained at airports,

and repeatedly

interrogated by the FBI.

When he returned to Yemen,

local officials arrested him

on orders from Washington.

He was locked up for

a year and a half

without charge

and spent 17 months in

solitary confinement.

When he was finally released,

Awlaki was a changed man.

And after JSOC

tried to kill him,

his transformation was complete.

Eventually came

to the conclusion

that jihad against America

is binding upon myself...

This is not a war of choice.

Just as it is binding on

every other able Muslim.

This is a war of necessity.

They seemed like mirror

images of one another,

strangely distorted,

America's wars

and Awlaki's words.

This will not be quick...

War against Islam and Muslim...

Nor easy.

Like a self-fulfilling

prophecy,

the United States had

helped create the very man

it was now trying to kill.

America was my home.

Those who attacked

America on 9/11

are plotting to do so again.

Awlaki's journey,

from a voice of moderation

to one of retribution,

cut to the heart of

the larger story

I was investigating.

[Indistinct conversations]

Anybody...

Anybody belongs to al-Qaeda...

I'd seen the same

pattern repeatedly.

America was trying to

kill its way to victory.

Now got a new target list...

But the War on Terror was

producing new enemies

wherever it spread.

How did this grow?

How does a war like

that ever end?

Good evening.

Tonight, I can report

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