Beyond Unfortunate
"[Our family is] devastated [by the news and] that my husband will never safely return home; [and we] do not yet fully understand all of the facts surrounding Warren’s death."
"We were so hopeful that those in the U.S. 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."
"[...The assistance we received from other elements of the U.S. government [beyond members of Congress and the Federal Bureau of Investigation] was inconsistent and disappointing."
Elaine Weinstein
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| Warren Weinstein |
"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 Warren and Giovanni. I profoundly regret what happened. On behalf of the United States government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families."
"But one of the things that sets America apart from many other nations, one of the things that makes us exceptional, is our willingness to confront squarely our imperfections and to learn from our mistakes."
"[The operation was] fully consistent with the guidelines [I established for counterterrorism strikes against al-Qaeda; nonetheless I have ordered] a full review of what happened."
"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."
U.S. President Barack Obama
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| Steven Crowley, New York Times -- "We don't take these drone strikes lightly" |
You know?
Stranger things have no doubt happened, but CIA drones, equipped with infrared sensors should have recognized the presence of two additional people at the targeted compound before it was hit. Yet, perhaps not; in their defence CIA officials claimed al-Qaeda has developed a strategy to adapt to the drone campaign, cleverly utilizing extensive measures to obscure facilities from the drone cameras. So there!
Just one of those unfortunate instances of being in the wrong place at the right time. Well then, the right place at the wrong time? Whatever, the two men accidentally killed, an American and an Italian hostage held by al-Qaeda represented an unavoidable tragedy. On the other hand, two Americans who had joined jihad and were working for al-Qaeda were also, and quite deliberately, killed. Win some, lose some; perhaps an overdue motto for the CIA.
No intelligence agency, however otherwise skilled and efficient, is beyond reproach in its approach to defeating the enemy.
And so, Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto both died in a January airstrike, the fact just recently confirmed after an extensive investigation. Time had elapsed, but the problem was there, refusing to just go away, and it had to be publicly aired, much to Mr. Obama's "grief". They weren't targeted, and there was no advance warning of any kind, no intelligence, no signs that they were in danger, that they were even present, before the order to strike was given.
But all is well because the buck stops at the Oval Office, and this president took "full responsibility" for the operation. The Jewish academic and development contractor had been kidnapped in Lahore in 2011 just as he was winding up his four-year posting in Pakistan. It was a delightful coup for al-Qaeda to have this Jewish prisoner whom they ordered to plea directly to the American president for his release.
All the more poignant since the United States, like Britain, does not surrender to such blackmail, and will not give cash for an American life.
As for Giovanni Lo Porto who moved to Pakistan early in 2012, he had studied at London Metropolitan University which helped him not one iota when he was kidnapped as soon as he arrived in Pakistan along with a German colleague. Unlike the United States and Britain, other nations do arrange for ransoms for their nationals; Mr. Lo Porto happened to be extremely unlucky; his value to al-Qaeda not redeemed in an exchange to benefit each of the involved parties.
The two other Americans were Ahmed Farouq, an al-Qaeda operative who died in the same strike that killed Messrs. Lo Porto and Weinstein. The second of the two jihadist Americans had met his death in an entirely separate operation. And a strange one he was; of Jewish heritage but Christian upbringing, he submitted to Islam at 17, at a mosque in Orange County, California before moving to Pakistan a year later, to join al-Qaeda.
"Azzam the American", aka Adam Gadahn, became a spokesman for al-Qaeda, a featured star in their videos.
Now that he is dead, the United States will no longer have to contemplate paying out the $1-million reward they have offered for information that might lead to his arrest. That $1-million might have saved the life of another American, but Warren Weinstein plied his trade in a very dangerous world, and it's just possible that his luck simply had run its course.
Labels: Al-Qaeda, Conflict, Pakistan, United States
posted by Pieface @ Sunday, April 26, 2015
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