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President Obama to Comment on Deaths of Hostages. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired April 23, 2015 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[10:00:01] MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And also so that they can try to assess what happened and for the White House to make sure that this does not happen again.

I think it's interesting when you read the -- you know, the details, the limited amount of detail that's in this statement. There was clearly the intel there to conduct these operations to at least have a reasonable certainty that the targets of the operations were there but the intel was not there to indicate that two hostages were present, one of them American. As it says in this statement, we had no reason to believe either hostage was present -- Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Michelle Kosinski, stand by. Let me bring in Jim Sciutto.

Because, Jim, the bigger context of this is the drone program. And there are critics of this program who have cried out saying too many civilians have died as a result. Now you have an American hostage dying as a result.

A, your response to how you think this affects the debate over the U.S. drone program in the region. And also B, is this the first time an American citizen has been killed by a drone attack outside of Anwar al-Awlaki who obviously was an American who became a terrorist and taken out by a U.S. drone strike?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, to be clear here the White House statement says counter-terror operation. They do not specify that it was a drone strike. So we should hear from the White House and I'm reaching out now to specify what kind of operation this was. Was it a drone strike, was it an airstrike from another aircraft, or were there elements on the ground involved? So that's one thing we have to look into.

Keep in mind that, you know, all those things have inherent risks. Drone strikes have killed civilians before. You mentioned the al- Awlaki strike, which is the one that -- the one previous case we know specifying drone specifically. But keep in mind there was another CT operation on the ground in Somalia with ground forces that killed not an American but an international hostage from South Africa.

So all these options at the president's hands, all of them are risky in these contexts and all of them have potential positives but also potential great negatives. And we're seeing this one here in just the worst form possible, accidentally killing an American and an Italian. But as you mentioned, Poppy, leading up to this you have the broader debate, in strikes, in counter-terror operations, civilians killed on the ground, local nationals, which in a country such as Pakistan and Afghanistan as well, is the primary feeder of anti-American feeling there.

And two, a real recruiting tool, frankly, for the very groups that are being targeted in these operations. Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS in Syria. You kill civilians on the ground, that helps drive people to these groups. You know, from a tribal perspective, your brother, your relative killed in a strike like this, you would feel an obligation to join the group. And you've seen that.

And even going back to Donald Rumsfeld nearly a decade ago, he asked the question, are we killing them faster than they are recruited? I'm paraphrasing here. But this has been a calculation that not just the Obama administration has had to make but the Bush administration.

And to be fair when we speak specifically of drones, remember, it's the Obama administration that greatly ramped up the number of drone strikes by a significant factor from the Bush administration. It's been a favorite tool of this president.

HARLOW: It certainly has.

Jim Sciutto, thank you for the reporting.

Again, the White House beginning their statement saying it is with tremendous sorrow that they make this announcement.

Let me hand it over now to my colleague, Jake Tapper, in Washington as we wait for the president to speak -- Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER": Thanks, Poppy. Good morning, everyone. If you're just joining us, let's bring you up to speed with what's going on.

At this hour we're expecting any moment President Obama to appear in the Brady White House press briefing room to talk about what is probably the most difficult decision a president has to make, the decision to try to rescue hostages, the decision to send troops into harm's way.

Right now what we know President Obama is going to talk about is a counter-terrorism attempt, counter-terrorism mission that went wrong. One that went wrong in January, an attempt to rescue the hostage, Kenneth Weinstein -- sorry, Warren Weinstein, an American contractor who has been held by al Qaeda since August 2011.

In December 2011, the al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri claimed to be holding him. The last proof of life video was in December 2013 when Warren Weinstein asked President Obama in his second term to do everything he could to try to rescue him. This rescue attempt did go wrong.

And we are now told by President Obama and the White House that Warren Weinstein and another hostage, an Italian hostage have been killed along with two Americans who had joined the ranks of al Qaeda.

I'm going to go to our senior national security correspondent Jim Sciutto right now who has some new information. We're expecting President Obama to come to the Brady White House briefing room any moment. We'll bring that to you live.

But, Jim, you have some new information. What do you have?

[10:05:06] SCIUTTO: Just to be clear, I'm told by a senior administration official, a State Department official that there were no boots on the ground in these counter-terror operations.

TAPPER: OK.

SCIUTTO: Just want to clear that up. So this would have been an air operation, which, of course, Jake, as you know, that adds an element here because you have a certain amount of intelligence when you're striking from the air. But there are always gaps. And here clearly there was a -- there was major gap. And you have the unfortunate, very sad result that an American and an Italian killed as a result.

Let's be clear, no ground troops involved in these operations.

TAPPER: And, Jim, would we know where this mission took place? You've talked about this was a drone mission. Do we know where the hostages were thought to have been held?

SCIUTTO: The only specificity we have is along the Afghan-Pakistan border, which is the prime hiding place for al Qaeda going back to 9/11. And of course it's along that border on the Pakistan side where Osama bin Laden was killed a number of years ago. We don't know which side of the border, we just know that's in that border region.

TAPPER: And Jim, we know that this mission took place in January but President Obama has only recently declassified the information. He's going to be sharing the information of this failed rescue attempt moments from now in the White House. What else do we know? Why did it take so long? Did they have to get DNA testing from the site of this drone attack?

SCIUTTO: I've asked that very question. We all want an answer, the president may provide it. But that would be typical. You know, in any strike, whether you have a sad result where an American, something like this, would be killed, your target, they're going to work on DNA evidence. They are going to watch social media, frankly, you know, when its leaders, you know, do in groups announce these things. Do they post pictures, et cetera?

So it's a whole collection of things that you look at. But when you have Americans involved, you would want and need DNA confirmation before you'd have the president come out and say that this has happened. And, you know, as the statement says, this was previously classified information. The president made a decision to declassify because in his words, and the words of the statement at least, he decided that the American public has a right to know. TAPPER: And the president will also announce that there were two

Americans killed, two Americans who had joined the ranks of al Qaeda, one of them relatively well-known to those who follow the story, and that is Adam Gadahn. This is the individual who was originally born Adam Pearlman and he's also known as Ahsan the American. The other one not as well-known, Ahmed Farouq, an al Qaeda leader who was an American citizen.

What more do we know about these two individuals who were killed in this same mission, the White House says?

SCIUTTO: Well, Adam Gadahn, as you mentioned, Jake, really the one who is most prominent here. Incredible story from California, Jewish background, Christian background, converted a number of years ago, and then started appearing in al Qaeda videos in 2004. And he was -- and we've seen this in other cases when you have an American in one of these groups, Omar Hammami, in al-Shabaab, he was the rapping jihadist.

These groups love to put that out there. It shows that they have pull inside, you know, even their primary target, America, particularly post 9/11. Adam Gadahn was very prominent in those videos and had a significant propaganda role in that organization. That has power. So it wasn't just a face. He was considered prominent and powerful in the organization.

So to get him would be a significant, I don't know if achievement is the right word but it would be an achievement. And that, to be clear, was in a separate strike, the White House saying it was not the same strike that killed the American hostage Dr. Weinstein or the Italian but it was in that same strike this other leader, Ahmed Farouq, was killed.

TAPPER: It was in the same region, different counter-terrorism operations. Was it thought to have been part of the same mission?

SCIUTTO: They don't specify it was on the same day. It was in the same month. And just adding some news as it's coming in, Jake, we're hearing from Pakistan, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no comment on this at this time. That would be the typical standing from the Pakistan government. They do not like to comment on American operations on Pakistani territory.

Again, to be clear we know that this was on the Afghan-Pakistan border. We're not sure that it was on the Pakistani side of the border. But they tend not to comment, frankly, because it is a very controversial issue. American strikes on Pakistani's territory. Pakistan government allows them but they don't like to say in public that they support them because on the ground Pakistanis hate them because of the possibility, there have been a number of cases of civilian casualties of these strikes.

It's a real driving force of anti-Americanism in that country. Of course in this case you have Americans who were killed, an American and an Italian who were the civilian casualties of this strike. [10:10:02] TAPPER: All right, Jim, stay with us. I want to bring in

Bob Baer right now. He's a CNN intelligence and security analyst, a former CIA officer who knows all a great deal about these kinds of counter-terrorism operations. Bob joins us on the phone, this obviously being a fairly rush breaking news situation.

Bob, President Obama is about to come to the White House Brady press briefing room to talk about this counter-terrorism mission in January that failed. It was an attempt to rescue Warren Weinstein, an American contractor, who has been held hostage by al Qaeda since August 2011. In addition there's an Italian hostage, Giovanni Lo Porto. He's been held hostage by al Qaeda since 2012.

The president also going to talk about two other Americans recently killed in counter-terrorism operations in the same region. We do not know if it's the same mission or the same operation. And those being Ahmed Farouq, an American who was an al Qaeda leader, and then, of course, Adam Gadahn.

We're expecting President Obama to come to the White House Brady press briefing room in two minutes to tell this information and give more detail, we assume, to the American people.

Bob, what strikes you about this announcement by the president and this failed mission?

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think -- as we've been talking about, the United States doesn't like conducting an air campaign within the borders of Pakistan. It's been a very open secret. But nonetheless, it is highly unpopular among the Pakistanis. And in fact, Pakistan has in many ways withdrawn operations, collecting intelligence on these areas, simply because so many civilians have been killed.

It doesn't surprise me, frankly, that hostages were accidentally killed in this because we have no intelligent human asset in the tribal areas of Pakistan. You can watch it from drones. You can listen to telephones. But as al Qaeda got off the telephone, your intelligence becomes more iffy and more iffy.

So to -- you know, the fact that this happened tells me it was probably a signature strike they saw from the air, what looked like the al Qaeda compound, spent months confirming that. Once they went to the president the White House saying, look --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Here comes President Obama, Bob, I'm going to cut you off. I'm going to cut you off. Here comes President Obama.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning, I want to express our grief and condolences to the families of two hostages, one American, Dr. Warren Weinstein, and an Italian, Giovani Lo Porto, who were tragically killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation. Warren and Giovanni were aid workers in Pakistan, devoted to improving the lives of the Pakistani people. After Warren was abducted by Al Qaida in 2011, I directed my national security team to do everything possible to find him and to bring him home safely to his family. And dedicated professionals across our government worked tirelessly to do so.

We also worked closely with our Italian allies on behalf of Giovanni, who was kidnapped in 2012.

Since 9/11, our counterterrorism efforts have prevented terrorist attacks and saved innocent lives, both here in America and around the world. And that determination to protect innocent life only makes the loss of these two men especially painful for all of us. Based on information and intelligence we have obtained, we believe that a U.S. counterterrorism operation targeting an Al Qaida compound in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, accidentally killed Warren and Giovani this past January.

Yesterday, I spoke with Warren's wife Elaine and Prime Minister Renzi of Italy. As a husband and as a father, I cannot begin to imagine the anguish that the Weinstein and Lo Porto families are enduring today. I realize that there are no words that can ever equal their loss. I know that there is nothing that I can ever say or do to ease their heartache. And today, I simply want to say this:

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.

As soon as we determine the cause of their deaths, I directed that the existence of this operation be declassified and disclosed publicly. I did so because the Weinstein and Lo Porto families deserve to know the truth.

And I did so because, even as certain aspects of our national- security efforts have to remain secret in order to succeed, the United States is a democracy committed to openness in good times and in bad.

Our initial assessment indicates that this operational was fully consistent with the guidelines under which we conduct counterterrorism efforts in the region, which has been our focus for years, because it is the home of Al Qaida's leadership, and based on the intelligence that we had obtained at the time, including hundreds of hours of surveillance.

We believed that this was an Al Qaida compound, that no civilians were present and that capturing these terrorists was not possible. And we do believe that the operation did take out dangerous members of Al Qaida.

What we did not know, tragically, is that Al Qaida was hiding the presence of Warren and Giovanni in this same compound.

It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight terrorists specifically, mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes, can occur.

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.

Already, I have directed a full review of what happened. We will identify the lessons that can be learned from this tragedy, and any changes that should be made.

We will do our utmost to ensure it is not repeated, and we will continue to do everything we can to prevent the loss of innocent lives, not just innocent Americans, but all innocent lives, in our counterterrorism operations.

Today we join their families and friends in honoring Warren and Giovanni, two humanitarians who came from different countries, but who were united by a spirit of service. For decades, Warren lived the ideals of our country, serving with the Peace Corps and later with the United States Agency for International Development. He devoted his life to people across Africa and South Asia.

He was a loving husband, father, and grandfather, who willingly left the comforts of home to help the people of Pakistan.

At the time of his abduction, he was a USAID contractor, focusing on helping Pakistani families escape poverty and give a better life to their children.

Giovanni's humanitarianism also took him around the world to the Central African Republic, to Haiti, and ultimately Pakistan. Like Warren, he fell in love with Pakistan and its people and believed passionately that he could make a difference in their lives.

Giovanni's service reflected the commitment of the Italian people, our great allies and friends, to the security and dignity of people around the world.

And today is a reminder of the bonds of friendship between our countries and the shared values that bind Americans and Italians together. There could be no starker contrast between these two selfless men and their Al Qaida captors. Warren's work benefited people across faiths. Meanwhile, Al Qaida boasted to the world that it held Warren citing his Jewish faith.

Al Qaida held both men for years, even as Warren's health deteriorated. They deprived these men of precious irreplaceable years with family who miss them terribly.

Amid grief that unimaginable, I pray that these two families will find some small measure of solace in knowing that Warren and Giovanni's legacy will endure. Their service will remembered by the Pakistan men, women and children whose lives they touched and made better. Their spirit will live on in the love of their families who are in our thoughts and prayers today, especially Warren's wife Elaine, their daughters Alisa and Jennifer and their families.

And the shining example of these two men will stand a light to people to people the world over who see suffering and answer with compassion. Who see hatred and offer their love, who see war and work for peace.

May God bless these two brave men and may he watch over and comfort their families for all the years to come.

[10:19:53] TAPPER: Mr. Obama leaving the Brady White House press briefing room after giving the grim news that a U.S. counter-terrorism operation, one we're told was conducted from the air, likely a drone strike, killed two hostages, two innocents, including Warren Weinstein, a U.S. contractor who had been held hostage by al Qaeda since August 2011, as well as an Italian hostage named Giovanni Lo Porto, who had been an al Qaeda hostage since 2012.

In addition the White House statement given before the press remarks by President Obama talked about separate counter-terrorism operations in which two other Americans, although these were Americans who had joined al Qaeda, were likely killed.

Those individuals being Ahmed Farouq, an American who we're told was the deputy emir of a new off shoot of al Qaeda called Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent or AQIS, as well as Adam Gadahn, who was well- known to those who follow national security stories. He is the young American born Adam Pearlman who had joined al Qaeda and appeared in a lot of propaganda videos.

Let's bring in CNN senior national security correspondent Jim Sciutto.

Jim, President Obama talking about how he wanted to bring this information to the American people as soon as it was declassified. But we are also told that the "Wall Street Journal" told the White House that they were going to run a story about this drone strike killing these two innocent hostages. And in fact, that story appeared this morning in the "Wall Street Journal" -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: That's right. Certainly that seems to be a pressure point here. A couple more details I can report now, Jake. This was a drone strike. We said earlier there were no ground troops involved, but it did come from a drone. Typically CIA drones are the ones that carry out these strikes in the Pakistan border region.

And just some more detail on the other American that was killed in this strike, that killed the American hostage Warren Weinstein and Italian hostage Giovanni Lo Porto, you mentioned his name, and you said, Jake, he was deputy emir of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. He was a big deal. And just to give you a sense of the ambitions of this group that he was deputy emir of, an operational leader of in fact, in September of just this last year they attempted to hijack Pakistani naval vessels to then use those vessels as weapons.

This is an operation that he would have been involved in as operational leader. That operation failed. But this is a group with tremendous capability and tremendous ambitions. So he was killed in this strike.

Oddly enough in the White House statement they concluded that he was there, but, you know -- and of course the same operation that killed -- unfortunately killed the American Weinstein and the Italian Lo Porto. But those details there, it was a drone strike. There were no ground forces involved. And the significance of the American Ahmed Farouq because I imagine that many have of our viewers who might have heard of Adam Gadahn because of his prominence, because he was an Americana, he was a convert, because he appeared in so many of these videos. They might not have heard of Ahmed Farouq but he was a significant figure in al Qaeda and this new branch of al Qaeda, Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.

TAPPER: Jim, do we know if the two Americans who had joined al Qaeda, Gadahn and Farouq, if this was the same counter-terrorism operation, the same mission at all, or is that still unclear?

SCIUTTO: It is clear based on the White House statement. So you have one counter-terror operation, one drone strike that killed Ahmed Farouq, the deputy emir operational leader of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent. It was that operation that killed the American Warren Weinstein and the Italian Giovanni Lo Porto.

It was a separate strike that killed Adam Gadahn. Same area, Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, both in January, but a separate strike.

TAPPER: All right. Let's bring in CNN military analyst Major General James "Spider" Marks.

General Marks, thanks for joining us. He's joining us by the phone, I believe.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: General, one of the things that's interesting is that a senior administration official told our State Department correspondent Elise Labott that the operations targeting al Qaeda, the -- the operation was targeting al Qaeda combatants and U.S. intelligence had, quote, near certainty there were no hostages at the target site, of course. This is a target site that did have hostages.

And I think this once again shows that intelligence is flawed. And as much as we would like to believe that intelligence is concrete and airtight, there really are no definites when it comes to this type of information gathering.

MARKS: Jake, you're absolutely correct. Intelligence really is not a super scientific, airtight endeavor. It is one of gaps. And it is an effort that is required -- multiple intelligence to close those gaps.

So for example, in this case, Jake, we had no presence on the ground. We had no human intelligence to confirm or deny or to provide additional clarity before the decision was made to execute the drone strike. [10:25:08] So that clearly -- this clearly is a demonstration of the

imprecise nature of intelligence, but the fact that it requires persistence in order to close the gaps as a matter of routine.

And if I can, Jake, I think that -- you know, the president's comments were absolutely spot on, but I think what I would say is they're necessary but they weren't -- and they were certainly sympathetic as they should be, but I think the message that needs to be said additionally is that America will always try. We don't leave folks behind. So we will try to recover folks.

And the message should be to our enemies we don't want you guys for a second to rest. And I think -- I think that's a very strong, very powerful message that has to be equally delivered at a time like this.

TAPPER: Right. Although it does seem, General, that this was not a mission to rescue the hostages. It was, based on the information we have, and it's still obviously coming in, in drips and drabs, but it seems like this was an operation to target al Qaeda, not to rescue Warren Weinstein and the Italian national who were killed in this operation.

MARKS: Yes, absolutely, Jake. But the inevitability of al Qaeda not keeping its head down is that they will continue to conduct operations and they will take hostages as a matter of routine. It has to be clear that America is going to continue to maintain pressure. We have to continue to conduct operations, do a very precise risk assessment and move swiftly as we can.

TAPPER: It is a sad day. President Obama expressing profound regret for what happened to the two innocent hostages killed by, we believe, an American drone, we believe in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in January of this year. He also offered on behalf of the American people his deepest apologies.

Let's bring in CNN foreign affairs correspondent Elise Labott right now who covers all of this at the State Department for us.

Elise, a sad day. Was the president definitively planning on revealing this information or was his hand forced do you think based on the information you have, by the fact that the "Wall Street Journal" was about to report this and, in fact, did report it this morning?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Jake, I think once this Genie comes out of the bottle, there's no way to keep it quiet. You know, the press certainly at the briefings, and you've been at the White House briefings for many years, I mean, once we hear about something like this, it's our responsibility to keep asking.

And this is the problem with American hostages. I mean, the U.S. often has very little information about where they are. Sometimes they do have information about where these hostages are. And they are keeping quiet and they're looking for an opportunity you've seen over the years, missions that have been undertaken under secret cover to try and rescue some of these people. My information is they had near certainty, which obviously is not very

good intelligence, that there were no hostages there. And I think it's pretty unlikely that the U.S. would undertake a drone strike knowing that hostages, and certainly an American hostage, was on the ground.

I've been following the case of Warren Weinstein for many years. There have been times when the United States thought they knew where he was. There were other times where it's gone completely under cover.

Warren Weinstein has been sort of in a black hole for many years. Obviously the United States says that the safety of its citizens and trying to recover them is the highest priority. But Warren Weinstein's family over the years has felt a little bit that he was forgotten. And it doesn't seem the U.S. has known for several years where Warren Weinstein was, although they have tried very hard.

You know, obviously when the president says we never forget about Americans in captives, he means it. But the whereabouts of Warren Weinstein had been a mystery for several years.

TAPPER: Let's bring in CNN justice correspondent Pamela Brown.

Pamela, President Obama offering personal regret, personal apologies on behalf of the American people to the families of Warren Weinstein as well as the Italian national killed by, we believe, an American drone strike in the border region in Afghanistan and Pakistan in January of this year. The Italian national's name was Giovanni Lo Porto.

But as we all know President Obama does not definitely authorize each individual drone strike. He and his administration have increased drone strikes on that region significantly since the Bush administration.

Do we believe that President Obama actually knew about this drone strike in January?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It's unclear at this point, Jake. What we do know is, as you point out, that President Obama did not specifically authorize these two drone strikes that killed the Americans that we just learned about today. But according to a U.S. government official, these drone strikes were conducted within the policy guidance in regards to drone strikes.