PHOTO: AFP
WASHINGTON:
US President Barack Obama on Thursday took “full responsibility” of the tragedy in which an American and an Italian hostage were killed in a covert US counter-terrorism operation on the Afghan-Pakistan border in January.
“As president and as commander-in-chief, I take full responsibility for all our counter-terrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni, he said, adding, “I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families.”
Making public the previously classified finding, Obama expressed his “deepest apologies” to the families of the two hostages, Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto.
Two other Americans linked to al Qaeda, including spokesman Adam Gadahn, were killed in the operations at around the same time, the White House said.
“Based on information and intelligence we have obtained, we believe that a US counter-terrorism operation targeting an al Qaeda compound in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region accidentally killed Warren and Giovanni this past January,” Obama said in an unscheduled statement.
Weinstein was snatched after gunmen tricked their way into his home in Lahore on August 13, 2011 shortly before he was due to return home after seven years working in Pakistan. He later appeared in a video in which, under apparent coercion, he asked the US to free al Qaeda prisoners.
Italian aid worker Lo Porto, 39, disappeared in January 2012 in Pakistan.
Weinstein’s widow said in a statement that “we are devastated by this news and the knowledge that my husband will never safely return home”.
The White House statement did not identify which US agency carried out the operation, which suggests it was carried out by an intelligence service rather than a military unit.
If confirmed, it would be the latest controversy to hit Obama’s counter-terrorism operations, which – while killing Osama bin Laden – have relied heavily on secret drone strikes.
“We have concluded that Ahmed Faruq, an American who was an al Qaeda leader, was killed in the same operation that resulted in the deaths of Dr Weinstein and Mr Lo Porto,” the White House said.
Italy calls it ‘tragic error’ by US
The Italian foreign ministry said Lo Porto had died “because of the tragic and fatal error by our American allies, recognised by President Obama”.
It added, “The responsibility for his and Warren Weinstein’s death however... was entirely the terrorists against whom we confirm Italy’s commitment alongside our allies.”
‘Al Qaeda bears the blame’
Al Qaeda extremists are ultimately to blame for the tragic death of Weinstein, the hostage’s wife said. But Elaine Weinstein said she and her family were disappointed with the US and Pakistani governments’ efforts to secure her husband’s release from his al Qaeda captors.
“We were so hopeful that those in the US and Pakistani governments with the power to take action and secure his release would have done everything possible to do so and there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2015.
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