WASHINGTON — The US government has taken out four Americans through drone strikes overseas, but only one was killed intentionally, Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged yesterday.
The first official admission of the four deaths comes as President Obama prepares to unveil new details of the drone program, as well as new efforts to deal with detainees held in limbo at Guantanamo Bay.
Holder, in a letter to congressional leaders, acknowledged the only American targeted and killed by a drone strike was Anwar al-Awlaki, a top terror leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Also killed in that 2011 strike in Yemen was American Samir Khan.
Another strike killed Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman al-Awlaki.
Holder confirmed another strike in Pakistan took out Jude Mohammed.
“These individuals were not specifically targeted by the United States,” Holder wrote.
“Since 2009, the United States, in the context of US counterterrorism operations against al Qaeda and its associated forces outside of areas of active hostilities, has specifically targeted and killed one US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki,” Holder wrote.
He said the U.S. was “further aware” only of the three other Americans killed in “such U.S. counter-terrorism operations.”
He continued that the government must take “special care” and “take into account all relevant constitutional considerations,” which he argued allowed for such killings on foreign soil in certain circumstances.
Holder wrote that letter as one of “a number of steps” to engage with Congress and the public on counter-terror efforts.
The administration also plans to restart prisoner transfers out of Guantanamo, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Obama will address both topics today in a speech at the National Defense University. But efforts to transfer prisoners out of Guantanamo will meet stiff resistance in Congress. More than 100 prisoners are engaged in a hunger strike their to protest their confinement.