The strikes came after U.S. intelligence concluded that the elder al-Awlaki was senior operational leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula plotting attacks on the U.S., including the abortive Christmas Day bombing of an airplane landing in Detroit in 2009.

NPR: Ex-Pentagon Chief Gates OK With Drone Oversight

" The president said that while one of its most troublesome affiliates, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, is a force to be reckoned with, "in the years to come, not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al-Qaida will pose a credible threat to the United States.

NPR: Obama Refocuses Terror Threat To Pre-9/11 Level

Earlier last week, Attorney General Eric Holder, in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, actually for the first time acknowledged that the United States has actually killed four American citizens, including Ayman al-Aliki, who was the purported head of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, his 16-year-old son Abdulrahman al-Awlaki, Jude Mohammed and Samir Khan, who were also American citizens.

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