strikes? those two individuals were leaders in al qaeda. they had prominent positions. we know mr. farouq was a leader of aqis and that he was playing a prominent role in leading that network s operations in planning in that region of the world. we know that mr. gadahn had styled himself as a prominent spokesperson for al qaeda. and for that and other reasons that he was indicted by the u.s. government for treason. so the administration s policy on the justified killing of american citizens in these counterterrorism strikes, according to the attorney general, is that they represent an imminent threat of violent attack against the united states and that capture was not feasible feasible. are you saying that adam gadahn and ahmed farouq that under
counter-terrorism operations in the same region. we do not know if it s the same mission or same operation. those being ahmed farouq an american who was an al qaeda leader and then of course adam gadahn. we re expecting president obama to come to the white house briefing room in two minutes to tell this information and give more detail we assume to the american people. bob, what strikes you about this announcement by the president and this failed mission? well i think as we ve been talking about, the united states doesn t like conducting an air campaign within the borders of pakistan. it s been a very open secret. but nonetheless, it is highly unpopular among the pakistanis. in fact, pakistan is in many ways withdrawn operations collecting intelligence on these areas, simply because so many civilians have been killed. it doesn t surprise me frankly, that hostages are accidentally killed in this because we have no intelligent human asset in
ground troops involved. this was not a capture mission that was possible here according to the president himself. but an interesting point in what he says. while he determines that farouq and adam gadahn both u.s. nationals, farouq and gadahn both nationals from al qaeda were killed in this strike and the subsequent one later, it does say neither was specifically targeted in the strike at the compound where warren weinstein and giovanni lo porto were killed. the question of course will be asked exactly what was it that the cia noticed at this compound that led them to believe a strike was in order. there have been a lot of reviews of this very favorite tool of the obama counter-terrorism policy. much embraced by him when he came in 2009 heavily used around border area of afghanistan and pakistan. i should point out not clear if it happened in afghanistan or pakistan. he certainly allowed grand expansion of much of this program and recently has begun to review it tightening of the
welcome back to our coverage of the sad news delivered by president obama this morning that an american counter-terrorism operation in january accidentally or by some sort of faulty intelligence took the life of two innocent hostages including an american named warren weinstein who has been in the clutches of al qaeda being held hostage by al qaeda since august 2011. in addition an italian national named giovanni lo porto who had been held by al qaeda since 2012 were killed. there are also two americans killed in that strike and subsequent strike. americans who were members of al qaeda, one of them ahmed farouq who was an al qaeda leader the subemir, vice emir in the indian subcontinent. the other well-known to people who follow national security
qaeda compound, that no civilians were present, and that capturing these terrorists was not possible. what we did not know tragically, is that al qaeda was hiding the presence of warren and giovanni in this same compound. now this hour we are learning more about the men who were killed first. american doctor warren weinstein was kidnapped in 2011 from his home in pakistan right as he was making plans to return to the states. his family had been highly critical of both the u.s. and the pakistani governments but says those who took warren captive over three years ago bear ultimate responsibility. the second innocent hostage killed is an italian aid worker named giovanni lo porto, taken by al qaeda three days after he arrived near the border there in 2012. the president calls their deaths a mistake, an accident to learn from. it is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorists specifically mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes can