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The New York Times reports that President Obama has offered an emotional apology for the accidental killing of two hostages held by Al Qaeda, one of them American, in a United States government counterterrorism operation in January, saying he takes “full responsibility” for their deaths. “As president and as commander in chief, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations,” including the one that inadvertently took the lives of the two captives, a grim-faced Obama said in a statement to reporters in the White House briefing room.
The White House earlier released an extraordinary statement revealing that intelligence officials had confirmed that Warren Weinstein, an American held by Al Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian held since 2012, died during the operation. Gunmen abducted Warren Weinstein in 2011 from his home in Lahore, Pakistan. They posed as neighbors, offered food and then pistol-whipped the American aid worker and tied up his guards, according to his daughter Alisa Weinstein.
The White House did not explain why it has taken three months to disclose the episode. Obama said that the operation was conducted after hundreds of hours of surveillance had convinced American officials that they were targeting an Al Qaeda compound where no civilians were present, and that “capturing these terrorists was not possible.” The White House said the operation that killed the two hostages “was lawful and conducted consistent with our counterterrorism policies” but nonetheless the government is conducting a “thorough independent review” to determine what happened and how such casualties could be avoided in the future.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 24 2015, @10:58AM
Not trolling, but honest question. I'm not a US citizen, I don't know much about your history.
Let's assume that using drones to kill enemies in non-combat situations is an acceptable act of war (big assumption, I know); isn't the killing of US citizens who are members of alqaida the same as the killing of combatants in the civil war?
Obviously, there are debates to be had about whether or not alqaida members can ever consider themselves to be in a non-combat situation, considering that their enemies cannot (you don't get told that there's a suicide bomber in your street, unless you're part of alqaida yourself).
But I'd like to know your opinion on the comparison anyway.
(Score: 1) by Ox0000 on Friday April 24 2015, @11:23AM
If one is an American citizen or a US person (i.e. on US soil), then the 6th Amendment to the Constitution applies:
(from In" rel="url2html-25574">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution):
In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.
That being said, there isn't anything in there that gives you the right to be prosecuted... so err... there... The guys were never prosecuted, so we didn't have to hold a trial... BAM GUILTY!