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When American forces killed one of the architects of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed criticized then-President Joe Biden, accusing him of using the operation to boost his political standing rather than focusing on the significance of the strike.
On Aug. 1, 2022, Biden announced that Ayman al-Zawahiri had been killed in a U.S. drone strike.
“He was deeply involved in the planning of 9/11, one of the most responsible for the attacks that murdered 2,977 people on American soil,” the president told the nation following the strike. Intelligence officials have long held that al-Zawahiri was involved in the planning behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks as well as other deadly assaults on Americans overseas.
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El-Sayed condemned al-Zawahiri as a terrorist in an essay, but criticized Biden for what he portrayed as an attempt to capitalize politically on the strike.
“President Biden is using the strike to bolster his approval here at home. It is troubling to watch yet another American president flog ‘War on Terror’ themes to resurrect a laggard term,” El-Sayed wrote in 2022 for The New Republic. “This strike, then, offers the Biden administration a fig leaf, demonstrating that even in Taliban hands, Afghanistan is not off-limits for direct action against terrorist targets.”
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El-Sayed argued that Biden was using the killing of al-Zawahiri to bolster his political standing ahead of the looming midterm elections
He went on to argue that, if Biden was serious about “projecting strength in the Middle East,” he would challenge some of the autocratic leaders in the region with whom the United States had traditionally aligned.
While El-Sayed criticized Biden’s handling of the death of al-Zawahiri, he condemned the al-Qaeda leader in no uncertain terms, calling him a “craven terrorist” who “died with the blood of innocent civilians on his hands.”
The Washington Free Beacon was the first to report on the newly unearthed essay.
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El-Sayed has previously criticized other high-profile U.S. military and counterterrorism operations.
Similarly, when President Donald Trump ordered the 2020 drone strike of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, El-Sayed warned that “one shouldn’t kick a rabid dog.” When President Barack Obama’s administration killed terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S. citizen living in Yemen, El-Sayed characterized it as an “extrajudicial assassination.”
El-Sayed has also compared Trump to Osama bin Laden, suggesting that both inspired people to engage in terrorism and that Trump should be held to account like bin Laden was. Bin Laden was killed by American operators in May 2011.
El-Sayed’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment when reached by Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
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