time like this. although it does seem general, this was not a mission to rescue the hostages. it was, based on the information we have and it s still coming in in drips and drabs but seems like this was an operation to target al qaeda not to rescue warren weinstein and the italian national who were killed in the operation. 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. 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
that killed the american hostage warren weinstein and italian hostage giovanni lo porto. you mentioned his name deputy amir of al qaeda in the subcontinent. he was a big deal. to give you a sense of the ambitions of this group that he was deputy amir of operational leader in september of this last year they attempted to hijack pakistani naval vessels to then use those vessels as weapons. this is an operation he would be involved in as operational leader. that operation failed. 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 he was there, and of course the same operation that unfortunately killed the american weinstein and the italian lo porto. but those details there, it was a drone strike.
are doing whatever they can, looking at every possible way of getting my husband back but we don t really know what that means, because we re not privileged to that information. we just have to believe what they tell us. let s bring in nick peyton walsh. he s joining us by phone from tripoli. nick good to talk to you. what action was taken that resulted in the death of warren weinstein and the italian national giovanni lo porto? we should point out the first action that put their lives at risk was being taken hostage by al qaeda. specifically we re talking about the drone strikes it appears the u.s. in washington was behind the explosion that hit this al qaeda compound. jake the question that s now going to be asked is exactly how did the cia and those behind the drone striking question come to the conclusion that a strike was necessary. we understand there were no
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. there are no words to do justice to the disappointment and heartbreak we are going through. we do not yet fully understand all of the facts surrounding warren s death but we do understand the u.s. government will be conducting an independent investigation of the circumstances. we look forward to the results of that investigation. but those who took warren captive over three years ago bear ultimate responsibility. i can assure you he would still be alive and well if they allowed him to return after his time abroad working to help people of pakistan. late last year warren weinstein s wife spoke with alison camerota. let s hear what she said about interaction with the government while trying to get her husband back from the clutches of al qaeda. the u.s. government says they
you ve seen over the years, missions that have been undertaken under secret cover to try and rescue some of these people. my information they had near certainty, which obviously is not very good intelligence that there were no hostages there. i think it s unlikely the u.s. would undertake a drone strike knowing hostages 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 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. it doesn t seem the u.s. has known for several years where warren weinstein is.