Anwar Al-Awlaki Dead

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, described the killing of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki on Friday as “probably the second biggest blow to al-Qaida since the killing of Osama bin Laden.”

Ruppersberger, who spoke to reporters at the statehouse in Annapolis, said he received a briefing on the lethal strike in Yemen from the CIA Friday morning. Ruppersberger, who said he has long been concerned about al-Awlaki, said the cleric was a dangerously charismatic leader who inspired people to kill Americans.

Weigh In Corrections? “He was the biggest threat, in my opinion, from a terrorism point of view to the United States of America and our citizens, and we have brought him to justice,” Ruppersberger said.

Ruppersberger described the killing of a second American, Samir Khan, in a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike on their convoy in Yemen early Friday as “collateral damage.” Khan edited a Jihadi Internet magazine, and Ruppersberger described his death as “really a plus for us.”

Ruppersberger said he visited Yemen about two months ago with Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, and they met with the head of Yemen’s intelligence and counterterrorism group. Ruppersberger said he was impressed with them, and the U.S. worked in a partnership with Yemen to find al-Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki was behind several high-profile terrorism efforts, including a failed attempt to destroy a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day in 2009 and U.S. bound cargo planes in 2010, Ruppersberger said.

“This is a great day for America,” the congressman said. “This is probably the second biggest blow to al-Qaida since the killing of Osama bin Laden,” Ruppersberger said.

Ruppersberger said al-Awlaki was on a special list of individuals that have attempted to attack the United States and are a severe threat to U.S. citizens.

“There’s a process that goes through the National Security Council, and then after that it goes to the president, and then the president then indicates that these individuals are on this list, and as a result of that process we followed it’s legal,” Ruppersberger said. “It’s legitimate, and we’re taking out someone who has attempted to attack us on numerous occasions, and he was on that list. It was pursuant to a process.”

“But Khan was a collateral damage issue here, and I don’t know because I don’t really have access to that list,” Ruppersberger said.Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.