Treason = Death; no questions asked!

The killing of the American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki will instill a "sense of doom" in al-Qaida's surviving leaders, a senior American military official told The New York Times.



The official, who was not named by the paper, said al-Awlaki's death was "critically important" and would send an important message to everyone in the terrorist network.


He spoke as New York's police commissioner Ray Kelly said the city's force was on high alert in case al-Awlaki's followers tried to stage a retaliatory attack.


"We know al-Awlaki had followers in the United States including New York City, and for that reason we remain alert to the possibility that someone might want to avenge his death," Kelly said in a statement.

"He was a powerful recruiter of terrorists in the United States," he said.


The Times reported that the airstrike that killed al-Awlaki and fellow U.S. citizen Samir Khan, 25, was the culmination of a two-year manhunt.