Obama apologises for drone deaths
A United States drone strike in January targeting an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan near the Afghan border inadvertently killed an American and an Italian who had been held hostage for years by the group, US officials said yesterday.
President Barack Obama apologised and took ‘‘full responsibility’’ for all counterterrorism operations, including this one.
The deaths were a setback for the long-running US drone strike programme that has targeted Islamist militants in Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and has often drawn criticism in those countries and from civil liberties groups in the United States.
Killed in the January drone strike were aid workers Warren Weinstein, an American held by al Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian who went missing in Pakistan in 2012, as well as Ahmed Farouq, an American who was an al Qaeda leader, US officials said.
Adam Gadahn, an American al Qaeda member who was charged with treason in the United States, was also killed in a separate strike on another al Qaeda camp five days later, the officials said.
Obama said he had ordered a full review of the matter to ensure such mistakes were not repeated.
‘‘I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families,’’ Obama told reporters at the White House.
Republican House of Represen- tatives Speaker John Boehner and other lawmakers called such a review appropriate but steered clear of criticising the drone programme. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican who is often a fierce critic of the president, said Gadahn and Farouq ‘‘got what they deserved’’.
US officials said the drone strikes occurred inside Pakistan in the conflict-torn border region near Afghanistan. One official said the CIA had observed the compounds over some time but had no idea hostages were present.
Use of unmanned drones, which enable the United States to carry out counterterrorism operations without putting US personnel directly in harm’s way, has prompted criticism because of the deaths of civilians and because on occasion they have involved kill- ing Americans judicial process.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the government should better follow its own standards before launching drone strikes.
‘‘In each of the operations acknowledged today, the US quite literally didn’t know who it was killing,’’ said Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director.
Lo Porto’s mother told reporters in Palermo, Sicily: ‘‘I don’t want to talk, leave me alone in my grief.’’
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, speaking in Brussels, said: ‘‘I have much appreciated the transparency of the United States in taking their responsibilities for what happened and the way Obama communicated what happened.’’
Weinstein’s wife, Elaine, said her family was devastated by his death. She criticised the US government for ‘‘inconsistent and disappointing’’ assistance during her husband’s years in captivity. Obama said he spoke with her on Thursday.
Like some other American families whose relatives have been killed over the past year after
abroad
without being held hostage by militants in the Middle East, Elaine Weinstein called for a better US government policy for relaying information to hostages’ families.
‘‘We hope that my husband’s death and the others who have faced similar tragedies in recent months will finally prompt the US government to take its responsibilities seriously and establish a co-ordinated and consistent approach to supporting hostages and their families,’’ she said.
US congressman John Delaney of Maryland, who has helped the Weinstein family, said the United States needed to do a better job handling American hostage cases.
Weinstein, 73, was abducted in Lahore, Pakistan, while working as a contractor for the US Agency for International Development. Al Qaeda had asked to trade him for members held by the US.
Italian media said Lo Porto, who was from Palermo, was kidnapped three days after arriving in Pakistan to work for a German organisation building houses for victims of a 2010 flood.
The White House said the Weinstein and Lo Porto families would receive compensation.
In each of the operations acknowledged today, the US quite literally didn’t know who it was killing. Jameel Jaffer American Civil Liberty Union’s deputy legal director