In 2002, the U.S. Attorney's office in Denver canceled an arrest warrant for radical cleric Anwar al Awlaki the day before he was detained entering the U.S. Shortly after that, he left the U.S. for good, according to ABC News.
David ,Gaouette, the supervisor of terror cases in Denver, at the time, was appointed U.S. Attorney in Denver in August by the Obama administration.
...The warrant was cancelled by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver, even though Awlaki was on a terror watch list, and even though the office's supervising prosecutor for terror cases -- who has now been named by President Obama as the new U.S. Attorney in Denver -- had been fully briefed on Awlaki's alleged terror ties, according to investigators.
...Gaouette's office did not reply to a request for a copy of the Awlaki arrest warrant. The clerk's office for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado was also unable to provide a copy of the warrant, citing the age of the case and the fact that the warrant was rescinded.
The morning after the warrant was cancelled, October 10, 2002, Awlaki stepped off a Saudi Airlines flight from Riyadh to New York.
...After his release from JFK, Awlaki returned briefly to Northern Virginia. According to the Washington Post, while there he visited a radical cleric named Ali al-Timimi and asked about recruiting young Muslims for jihad. In 2003, federal agents raided al-Timimi's home and seized documents and cassettes. He is now serving a life sentence after being convicted of inciting 11 young Muslim men, most of them American citizens, to fight with the Taliban against the U.S. in Afghanistan after 9/11.
How odd is it the day after the warrant was rescinded, Awlaki gets on a plane from Saudi Arabia and comes back into the U.S.? It was like he knew.
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