WHITE HOUSE- President Obama acknowledged the information released by his administration this morning that an American counterterrorism operation against Al-Qaeda mistakenly killed two innocent hostages.
Information about the operation was released suddenly this morning by the White House, followed by a brief statement delivered personally by Obama.
“It is a cruel and bitter truth that in the fog of war generally and our fight against terrorist specifically, mistakes, sometimes deadly mistakes can occur,” Obama explained in the White House press briefing room.
He said al-Qaeda was hiding the two hostages – one American and one Italian – in the compound targeted by the special counter-terrorism operation.
President Obama personally took responsibility, noting that he did so as the commander-in-chief responsible for all counterterrorism operations.
“I profoundly regret what happened, on behalf of the United States Government, I offer our deepest apologies to the families,” he said.
Obama also revealed that he ordered the details from the operation declassified and disclosed publicly after the investigation was complete – asserting that the United States would “confront squarely our imperfections and learn from our mistakes.”
“The United States is a democracy, committed to openness in good times and in bad,” he explained.
A White House source tells Breitbart News that President Obama made the decision to make the information public days ago and that there was “zero truth” to the suggestion that the administration rushed the announcement to get ahead of a story published earlier this morning by the Wall Street Journal. The details, the source suggested, were revealed to the newspaper insuring that an accurate story could set the stage for the president’s remarks.
Another senior administration official told reporters that although there were indications in February that the two innocent hostages were killed in the operation, the final determination was made in the last several days.