WASHINGTON – "Confirmation" that an American and an Italian were accidentally killed in a U.S. drone strike while being held hostage in an al-Qaida compound was made without gathering any physical evidence, according to a Pentagon source with knowledge of the attack who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The source said the confirmation of the deaths was undertaken by the CIA and based only on an "intelligence assessment."
Verification should have included DNA samples, the source said.
A WND request to the CIA for comment went unanswered.
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President Obama announced Thursday that a counter-terrorism operation against an al-Qaida compound in Pakistan three months ago accidentally killed two innocent Westerners.
“I profoundly regret what happened,” a visibly upset Obama said in a televised statement announcing American aid worker Warren Weinstein, kidnapped in 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian seized in 2012, were killed in a U.S. drone attack in January.
The issue of how the U.S. could “confirm” the deaths of the two hostages was raised at a Pentagon news conference led by spokesman U.S. Army Col. Steve Warren, who emphasized, “Overall, accountability and whereabouts of U.S. citizens is a State Department function.
Asked by WND who confirmed the deaths of the two hostages, Warren said, “Not the Department of Defense.”
Pressed further to specify, Warren said, “It would have been not the Department of Defense,” a response that evoked some laughter from the press corps.
“I will only speak on behalf of the Department of Defense,” Warren added.
'Profound regret'
The attack took place in the remote Shawal Valley region in Pakistan where al-Qaida and Taliban seek refuge.
“I profoundly regret what happened,” Obama said Thursday. “On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families. We are going to identify what happened.”
The New York Times reported that the first sign “something had gone terribly wrong” was when CIA officers saw six bodies, even though the location, which had been subject to aerial surveillance for months, had only shown four high-value targets.
From aerial surveillance, however, six bodies were seen to have been pulled from the smoldering rubble.
Following the attack, there were other reports through communication intercepts that the two additional bodies were “Westerners.”
The development has led to questioning whether all protocols were followed and if something more needs to be done to minimize “collateral” damage in highly remote areas in a “death by drone” approach to high-value terrorist targets.
Sources agree intelligence-gathering is difficult in such remote areas, but the incident, nevertheless, is a serious intelligence failure.
In a post mortem on the drone attack, ex-CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell told CBS he wants to know whether all normal procedures were followed, whether there are new procedures that need to be put in place and how better intelligence can be collected.
Morell said hostages can be hidden for days and during surveillance over a period of time might never be seen, as apparently happened in the January attack.
“In the fog of war, you can have real tragedy,” Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in a PBS interview. “And as we have increased – as the president has increased the pace of drone strikes in Pakistan and elsewhere, we moved to what are known as signature strikes, and that’s not knowing exactly who is there, but knowing that it’s a signature of an al-Qaida operation.
“And, unfortunately, in this case and in previous cases, we target those spots, even though there’s a near certainty that there are not noncombatants or U.S. persons there,” Leiter said.
“But near certainty is not absolute certainty, and intelligence can be imperfect. It was in this case. And when you’re going after al-Qaida aggressively, these things, unfortunately, can happen.”
Leiter said hostage-taking forces the U.S. to engage, giving al-Qaida “an enormous propaganda value.”