The White House won't deny reports claiming that it authorized the killing of an American citizen who is purportedly involved in planning al Qaeda attacks and is said to be hiding out in Yemen.
The New York Times and the Washington Post reported late Tuesday that Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was added to the CIA's list of alleged terrorists the US has targeted to kill. American forces have killed myriad suspected terror suspects using armed drone planes in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen.
CBS News' Mark Knoller noted that the White House had issued no denial of the report by Wednesday morning. al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico and served for years as an imam in the United States. He has not been charged with a crime, but was linked by US officials to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the psychiatrist alleged to have killed 13 at an Army base in Fort Hood and Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the so-called "Christmas day" bomber who attempted to detonate a jetliner en route to Detroit.
"No WH denial to reports in NYT & WP that Obama Administration has authorized the targeting killing of American citizen tied to Al Qaeda," Knoller wrote on his Twitter feed.
The Times noted that the policy of killing Americans abroad is generally alien to US law.
