kylieellway/iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The White House characterized Sunday’s deadly raid in Yemen that likely killed civilians as “a very, very well thought out and executed effort.”
On Thursday, press secretary Sean Spicer took reporters through a timeline of events leading up to the mission. Spicer said the planning of the mission began back in November under the Obama administration, but it was not carried out until this past weekend because officials were waiting for a moonless night.
“It was … a very, very thought out process by this administration. It … was moved forward by CENTCOM on Nov. 7. This was a very, very well thought out and executed effort,” Spicer said, referring to the U.S. Central Command.
Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis denied reports that the mission had been compromised. He said that those reports “[don’t] match with reality.”
Davis also reiterated the White House’s claims, saying that the mission “was carefully planned…very deliberatively planned.”
“All of our missions have additional capabilities beyond what is planned for contingencies and indeed some of that capability was called in.”
The raid, carried out by members of the elite unit SEAL Team Six, was intended to gather intelligence about the senior leadership of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its plotting efforts outside the region.
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