The Obama Administration, less than a week after sending in a Navy Seal team to kill Osama bin Laden, authorized a missile strike against radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, hiding out in Yemen.

The drone missile strike occurred in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemeni affiliate of al Qaeda. The problem is, we missed.

However,Yemeni officials reported that two al Qaeda operatives were killed in last Thursday’s strike.

Who is this  Radical Imam that the U.S. Government has put a “hit” out on?

Here are some facts about this Islamic Terrorist Leader:

• He is an American citizen, born in New Mexico in 1971, Anwar al-Awlaki was an imam at mosques in California, Colorado and Washington, D.C., from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. He left the U.S. in 2002.
• He comes from a prominent family: His father was the minister of agriculture and a university president in Yemen.
• He is a Facebook aficionado: Devoutly supported by young Muslims, al-Awlaki has exploited social networking to spread his teachings. He has groups on Facebook and MySpace and his “fans” include American high school students.
• He advocates Jihad: Al-Awlaki’s extensive pro-Jihad writings include the essay, “44 Ways to Support Jihad” — considered a key text for al Qaeda members — which calls for young Muslims to receive arms training for potential battles. (Watch Anwar al-Awlaki lecture on religious zeal.)
• He hasn’t always preached extremism: In the weeks after 9/11, al-Awlaki spoke often with Western reporters about Islam, and condemned the World Trade Center attacks.
• He is allegedly linked to Osama Bin Laden: His links to al Qaeda were first suspected by U.S. authorities as long ago as 1999, when the FBI claims he had contact with one of Osama Bin Laden’s “procurement agents.”
• He had close ties to the 9/11 attackers: Two of the terrorists who hijacked Flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon on 9/11 had a “close relationship” with the imam in San Diego and in Washington, D.C. In the Congressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11, al-Awlaki is referred to as one of the terrorist’s “spiritual advisor.”
• Nidal Hasan was a member of his congregation: The Fort Hood shooter — who’s reported to view the imam’s teachings with “deep respect” — attended the Washington, D.C. mosque where al-Awlaki preached.
• The U.K. has censored him: Al-Awlaki was banned from speaking via teleconference at a London event in August 2009 that raised money for Muslims held at Guantánamo Bay.
• He has written in support of the Fort Hood shootings: Al-Awlaki posted comments on his website in support of the Fort Hood attack, calling Nidal Hasan a “hero” for fighting against “American tyranny.”
• He was “presumed” killed in a previous U.S.-backed military strike: When the Yemeni military attacked a gathering of al Qaeda leaders in a mountainous province of that country last Dec. 24, officials from Yemen and the U.S. announced that al-Alwaki was believed to have been present and was presumed dead.
• Reports of his death may have been premature: Just a few days after the attack, a Yemeni journalist said he’d been contacted by al-Awlaki and that the cleric was alive and well. Al-Awlaki claimed to have been a short distance away from the site of the attack.
• His preachings may have inspired the “Underwear Bomber”: Investigators in the U.K. think it’s possible that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was inspired by al-Awlaki’s teachings. Specifically, Abdulmutallab was tied to an advocacy group that has “championed” al-Awlaki.
• He has been approved for targeted killing (as demonstated last week.) CIA operatives have been given the “extremely rare, if not unprecedented,” go-ahead to capture or kill the U.S. citizen, given his danger to America as an al-Qaeda operative.
• Faisal Shahzad says al-Awlaki inspired him to act: The man charged with trying to set off a car bomb in Times Square has reportedly told law enforcement that he is a “fan and a follower” of al-Awlaki, and that the influential imam’s teachings motivated the attempted bombing.

In September, the Yemeni government said it had surrounded Awlaki in the village of Houta. Then, strangely. the Yemenis reported that they had captured two-dozen al Qaeda fighters and a “vital terror headquarters” instead of their primary target.

Hmmmm.

The Yemeni Government then released a statement saying that the military was still “combing the area, searching for militants before declaring the area safe for its residents to return.” The military says the battle began after a unsuccessful attack by AQAP on a pipeline. Thousands of civilians had to flee their homes in the wake of the fighting.

According to the Yemenis, Awlaki was near the village with a group of suspected al Qaeda militants. But a Yemeni diplomat who had spoken to military commanders on the scene told ABC News the Government had no confirmation that Awlaki was at the location.

It sounds like the Yemeni Government is playing games with us, doesn’t it? Either that, or they’re grossly incompetent.

Whatever’s going on, the Obama Administration had better not rely on the Yemeni Government for any more intel about Awlaki.

American lives are at stake.