President Obama on Thursday took responsibility for the killing of an American and Italian hostage during a U.S. drone strike on an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan, expressing “regret” for deaths likely to stoke a broader debate about his administration’s reliance on remote-control killings to combat terrorist organizations.
The White House disclosed earlier Thursday that Dr. Warren Weinstein was killed during the strike in January, as was Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national. U.S. officials were unaware of the location of the hostages during the attack.
“I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni,” Obama said from the White House. “I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families.”
Obama has repeatedly defended drone strikes as a preferable alternative to traditional methods of warfare, insisting they limit U.S. casualties.
The White House revealed Thursday that American-born al Qaeda member Ahmed Farouq was killed during the same drone strike. The White House also said that Adam Gadahn, an American who became a prominent member of al Qaeda, was killed in a separate operation.
The White House, however, acknowledged that neither Farouq nor Gadahn were specifically targeted.
Obama has initiated a review of the incident, but no changes to the U.S. drone strategy have been announced.
The U.S. drone campaign is particularly active in Pakistan, where the Central Intelligence Agency conducts operations that typically remain secret.
The president insisted that the attack was consistent with stringent rules put in place by his administration and said that such tragedies are unavoidable in times of war.
“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 occur,” he said.
“We will do our utmost to ensure it is not repeated and we will do everything we can to prevent the loss of innocent lives.”
Both Weinstein and Lo Porto were aid workers.
Obama never directly mentioned the nature of the attack, but U.S. officials confirmed that it was a drone operation.
This failed drone strike came after an unsuccessful special forces raid in December in which American hostage Luke Somers was killed in Yemen.
Al Qaeda had held Weinstein since 2011. He was a contract worker through the United States Agency for International Development. Lo Porto was held captive since 2012.
“I realize that there are no words that can ever equal their loss,” Obama said to the victims’ families. “I know there is nothing that I could ever say or do to ease their heartache.”
