If Awlaki was ours, why'd we kill him?

I always feel a bit sad when my paranoid musings receive mainstream confirmation. A tabu idea has charm only as long as it remains tabu. If the idea no longer seems off-the-wall, where's the fun?

I'm sure you recall Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born Islamic cleric assassinated by this administration due to his links to both the 9/11 hijackers and would-be "crotch bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. (His teenaged son was also "droned to death.") In the past, this humble blog has listed the many reasons for suspecting that Awlaki functioned as an agent of our intelligence apparat. (See, for example, here.)

Last October, no less a source than Politico gave voice to that very notion. Suddenly, an "unthinkable" theory became thinkable.

The Politico story focused on a biologist named Ali Al-Timimi. After he was cleared of involvement with the anthrax attacks, the government convicted him on a separate beef -- "inciting terrorism." Timimi says that he was screwed over by none other than Anwar al-Awlaki, previously known as the cleric to the World Trade Center terrorists. (Bizarrely, he was also the guest of honor at a post-9/11 Pentagon luncheon).

In October of 2002, Anwar visited Timimi and talked to him about various illegal acts. Timimi says that Awlaki was wired -- a claim I cannot confirm, although I personally believe it to be true.

One thing is certain: After making sure that Timimi's life was ruined, Awlaki skipped off with a grin, leaving the country in a no-muss, no-fuss fashion. Officials at JFK airport just waved the guy through -- and never mind that pesky arrest warrant for passport fraud that had been hanging over his head for a while.

Later, after Awlaki's 2011 death-by-droning, a lawyer for Timimi asked for documentation regarding Awlaki's possible work for Uncle. The lawyer -- and please don't snigger when I tell you that his name is Ed MacMahon -- was told that Timimi has "no right" to that information.

Not exactly a ringing denial of the charge, eh wot?

In 2012, Fox News published a similar piece about Republican Congressman Frank Wolf's frustrating attempts to find out more about Awlaki's true relationship with the FBI. 

The chronology tells you all you really need to know: Awlaki entered the country October 10, 2002, played his role in the Timimi sting, then bounced away again. At one time, the Bureau claimed that the arrest warrant had expired, but observers now agree that it was still in effect. One may thus reasonably suspect that the guy was allowed to go free because he helped the feds in the Timimi matter.

(This is why I keep telling you people to study the JFK assassination. If you understand how Lee Oswald ratfucked the Fair Play for Cuba Committee, you can more easily see how Anwar Awlaki ratfucked Timimi and the Exploding Crotch Dude and a host of others.)

A few further words about the "passport fraud" charge may be in order. As you probably know, Awalki was born in the U.S. to a Yemeni father. Later, he (the younger Awlaki) attended George Washington University, which has a fairly close relationship with spook-world. During his school days, he claimed to have been born in Yemen, thereby qualifying for $20,000 in scholarships reserved for foreign students.

That would have given the feds an early hold over the guy. (Well, that plus the prostitution arrests. Our boy Anwar had his weaknesses.)

Over the course of the last year, we've received further indications that Anwar the Dronable was an American agent or asset. Somewhat disturbingly, Fox News -- Fox! -- has done terrific work on this story. The following was published last July:

Outgoing FBI Director Robert Mueller was more deeply involved in the post-9/11 handling of cleric Anwar al-Awlaki -- the first American targeted for death by the CIA -- than previously known, according to newly released documents reviewed exclusively by Fox News.

The documents, released after Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request and then sued the FBI, show a memo from Mueller to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on Oct. 3, 2002. It is marked “Secret” and titled “Anwar Aulaqi: IT-UBL/AL-QAEDA.”

While the substance of the memo is redacted in full, with the FBI citing classified material, the memo is one of at least three FBI reports -- whose primary subject is the cleric -- in the nine days leading up to Awlaki’s sudden return to the U.S. in October 2002.

The documents suggest the FBI was well aware of Awlaki’s movements, raising questions about why more wasn’t done to detain him.

As part of its ongoing investigation into the cleric, Fox News previously reported that after arriving at JFK airport from Yemen via Saudi Arabia and being detained by customs officers on Oct. 10, 2002, the cleric was allowed into the U.S. under the orders of FBI Agent Wade Ammerman from the bureau’s Washington office -- despite an active warrant for Awlaki’s arrest. The cleric later appeared with a government witness at the home of Ali al-Timimi, who was the target of Ammerman’s counterterrorism investigation. Al-Timimi, who was convicted on non-terrorism charges in 2005, is appealing the conviction which includes a life sentence.

Let that sink in. An FBI agent in DC intervened in a passport fraud case in New York, in order to make sure that an obviously guilty man was allowed to enter the country. How often does that happen?

The story becomes clearer. Uncle had hold of Timimi but couldn't make the anthrax charge stick. Nevertheless, the feds -- for whatever reason -- were determined to put the guy behind bars. So they brought Awlaki, Anwar Awlaki, into the country for a special "get Timimi" mission. They greased his way in and, once his mission was accomplished, they greased his way out.

In August, Robert Mueller would not deny that Awlaki was an asset:

"I am not personally familiar with any effort to recruit Anwar al-Awlaki as an asset -- that does not mean to say there was not an effort at some level of the Bureau (FBI) or another agency to do so," Mueller said.

Translation: "Have you considered asking the lads at Langley?" Of course, the FBI had tracked Awlaki closely before his October 10, 2002 return visit. So I'm not sure who Mueller thinks he's kidding.

Timimi has a new lawyer -- Jonathan Turley.

The defense lawyer said that recently-released FBI files suggest that Al-Awlaki may have been acting as an "asset" for some government agency when he returned to the U.S. from abroad just prior to his meeting with Al-Timimi.

But...wait a minute...

If Awalki did that kind of thing for the U.S. -- then who was he working for when he got in contact with the 9/11 hijackers? And the Fort Hood shooter? And the crotch bomber?

If he really was an American asset, why did Obama kill the guy (and his son)?

Actually, there is serious question as to whether we really did kill Awlaki. The Yemeni government refused to confirm his death.

Perhaps the whole thing was staged. Perhaps Anwar has a new identity. Perhaps he's working behind the counter at your local Mickey D.

If so, then our current national argument over the droning of an American citizen takes on a whole new color. (For the latest on that argument, see Marcy Wheeler's piece on Senator Ron Wyden's justifications for the death-from-above attack.)

Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer (remember him?) insists that Awlaki was a "triple agent." If I understand aright, Shaffer believes that Awlaki was working for Them by pretending to work for Us even though he was really working for Them all along. In this scenario, we may conclude that Obama sent out the drones after learning Awlaki's true allegiance.

But what was the point of this game? If Awlaki really was with Them in his heart of hearts, why did he screw over Timimi? Was he simply saving his own skin, or did he have a greater goal? What goal?

The most important questions of all: What did he tell American authorities about the 9/11 hijackers before the event? What role did he play in the Fort Hood affair and the ultra-strange tale of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?