Talking with BBC about the drone that killed Awlaki

How will Anwar al-Awlaki's death impact al Qaeda—and US-Yemen relations?

That's what I talked to BBC5 about on Friday. Listen here.

There's plenty of controversy over the illegality of drone strikes. But what I find interesting is the timing of Awlaki's death—the targeted killing of the prominent cleric comes just a week after beleaguered Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned home from rehab in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile in Sana'a, protests are ongoing and are increasingly being met by brutal violence at the hands of Saleh supporters.

 

But US-Yemen counter-terror cooperation has never been better. Laura Kasinof reports from Sana'a:

A high-ranking Yemeni official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Yemen had provided the United States with intelligence on the location of the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was killed by an American drone strike on Friday. 

And for more some cartoons of the US's shadow war in Yemen, here you go.