House Speaker John Boehner called for the Obama administration to provide “all the facts” in the U.S. drone strike that accidentally killed an American and Italian hostage held at an al Qaeda compound.
Boehner, R-Ohio, said he also expects House committees to look into the incident.
“As President Obama indicated, this is not a time for excuses,” Boehner said after offering condolences to the families of American Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian citizen.
“The president announced an independent review is under way and that is entirely proper,” Boehner said. “We need all the facts for the families, and to make sure nothing like this ever happens again in our efforts to keep America safe.”
Boehner said he has not spoken with Obama about the hostage deaths, but said he was “notified prior to the public disclosure” of the mishap.
Boehner said the House Intelligence and House Armed Services Committees will likely probe the incident, but would probably wait until the Obama administration completes its own review.
Weinstein was a contractor working for the U.S. Agency for International Development who was captured in 2011. Porto was an aid worker who had been held by al Qaeda since 2012.
