Lawmakers question handling of Awlaki case

Questions raised about a rescinded arrest warrant // Source: wordpress.com

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill want details on the handling of the Anwar al-Awlaki case – particularly why information on the possible arrest was never provided by the FBI to the 9/11 Commission. The New Mexico-born cleric, now working as a recruiter for al Qaeda in Yemen, is believed to have been a mentor for 9/11 hijackers during his time as an imam at mosques around San Diego and Washington, D.C. Fox News reports that despite his possible role in the attacks and inconsistencies in his passport, a warrant for al-Awlaki’s arrest was dropped on 10 October, the same day he returned to the United States after a 7-month stay in Yemen.

Two senior investigators with the 9/11 Commission told Fox News that they were actively considering whether Awlaki was part of a pre- 9/11 support cell in the United States for the hijackers. Asked whether documents on the decision by federal authorities to drop the charges should have been shared, one of the investigators said yes, adding the decision to pull the warrant on the same day Awlaki returned in October 2002 demanded further investigation.

There is no mention of the Awlaki arrest warrant in the 9/11 Commission report itself. There is a lengthy footnote about the cleric which has one reference to an FBI internal memo that was circulated 8 October 2002 – just two days before the cleric’s return. Fox News sought those documents through a Freedom of Information Act request in 2010.

Twenty-seven pages were produced for Fox News’ investigative team, but nearly all the text was redacted – citing an executive order – that the material should remain secret for national security reasons.

On Tuesday, FBI director Robert Mueller was on Capitol Hill, where he faced tough questions over the documents from Representative Frank Wolf (R-Virginia).

Mueller said he remembered looking at the Awlaki warrant, which originated out of Denver, Colorado, in the summer of 2002 a “couple of years ago,” adding “there was not much more — not much more and certainly at this time to be done.” The FBI director did not elaborate.

“If this was not provided to the 9/11 Commission, it was certainly not by intent,” Mueller said. “It may well have been not in a file, one of the files that we provided to that 9/11 Commission. But I think you will find the 9/11 Commission was appreciative of all the work that we had done to provide them, you know, just about everything that we had in our files.”

The Justice Department has maintained that Awlaki’s re-entry to the United States was a string of coincidences. The Department told Fox News in a statement last May that there was not enough evidence to keep the warrant against Awlaki active. Two current and former investigators familiar with the case have disputed that claim.

New details about the cleric’s American life and his connections to the 9/11 hijackers will be part of an upcoming Fox News special.