Obama apologizes for hostage deaths

Cody Olsen Jul 5, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Obama apologizes for hostage deaths</h1>
                <h2><p>President Obama apologized Thursday for a drone strike's accidental killing of two hostages, American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, during an attack on an Al-Qaeda compound in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. "As President, and as Commander-in-Chief I take full responsibility for all our counter-terrorism operations</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/cody-olsen-crosscut-com/">Cody Olsen</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>President Obama apologized Thursday for a drone strike's accidental killing of two hostages, American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, during an attack on an Al-Qaeda compound in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. "As President, and as Commander-in-Chief I take full responsibility for all our counter-terrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni," President Obama said. <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/04/23/warren-weinstein-killed-drone-strike/26236093/?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">USA Today reports </a>that Weinstein family members issued a harsh statement criticizing the administration for its lack of support for hostages and their families.</p><p>Also killed in the strike was Ahmed Farouq, an American and one of the Al-Qaeda leaders being targeted.</p>
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President Obama apologized Thursday for a drone strike's accidental killing of two hostages, American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, during an attack on an Al-Qaeda compound in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. "As President, and as Commander-in-Chief I take full responsibility for all our counter-terrorism operations including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni," President Obama said. USA Today reports that Weinstein family members issued a harsh statement criticizing the administration for its lack of support for hostages and their families.

Also killed in the strike was Ahmed Farouq, an American and one of the Al-Qaeda leaders being targeted.

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By Cody Olsen

Cody Olsen was an editorial intern with Crosscut. He has a degree in Political Science from WWU, a passion for Journalism and a love for making movies on the side. This past summer he spent a few mont