they were in the military facility. if the united states decides to take action against a american there are processes in place that allows that. had we known there were americans there the drone strike would have been at least delayed until they got the proper protocol. there would have been a review an additional review by the attorney judge and justice department with respect to ensuring that the constitutional and statutory rights of those individuals were protected. final question do you believe this was an intelligence fail oou? this is not a raid against a military facility. it was based on hundreds of hours of intelligence. and the assessment that it was an al qaeda compound in the military war zone was correct. secondly with respect to the near certainty standard with respect to not having civilian
they were in the military facility. if the united states decides to take action against a american there are processes in place that allows that. had we known there were americans there the drone strike would have been at least delayed until they got the proper protocol. there would have been a review an additional review by the attorney judge and justice department with respect to ensuring that the constitutional and statutory rights of those individuals were protected. final question do you believe this was an intelligence fail oou? this is not a raid against a military facility. it was based on hundreds of hours of intelligence. and the assessment that it was an al qaeda compound in the military war zone was correct. secondly with respect to the near certainty standard with respect to not having civilian casual tees. in that case here it turns out
and the assessment that it was an al qaeda compound in the military war zone was correct. secondly, with respect to the near certainty standard, with respect to not having civilian casualties, in that case here it turns out not to be correct. and that s why the president asked for a review. but is it a failure in intelligence. i said the protocols were followed and it was accurate with respect to whether or not this was an al qaeda facility. but in fact there were hostages being held there. now, it is difficult to know that obviously. i spent a lot of time for example, working on the hunt for bin laden. it took us years over the course of two administrations to find him. this is a very tough business. and if you are looking for again, as tragic as this was, two things, this is very important to protecting the united states and secondly and if you are looking for accuracy you are not going to find it in the war setting. thanks for coming on meet
what is actually required for investigators is a de-escalation of tension so they can get safe and complete access to the site, hala. nic robertson, thanks very much, live in kiev. we will speak with nic again, of course, in the coming hours on the very latest from the ukrainian capital. david deese, a former spokesperson from department of transport in the uk and he s live in the studio with us. thank you very much for being with us. you ve heard all these reports that the crash site is not secure, that some of those pro-russian rebels are not allowing full access, that bodies, tragically, are still strewn across an open field. what happens now? how can you perform an investigation? it s extremely difficult. i think the investigators are faced with an unprecedented situation where you have a civilian aircraft, which appears to have been brought down in what is, in effect, a war zone. and it s not just a military war zone, but a propaganda war zone.