Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — General Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command took responsibility for the January Navy SEAL raid in Yemen that left one SEAL and several civilians dead, but insisted he found no bad decisions or incompetence involved in how the mission turned out.
“I accept the responsibility for this,” Votel said at a Thursday Senate hearing. “We lost a lot on this operation. We lost a valued operator. We had people wounded. We caused civilian casualties. We lost an expensive aircraft.”
Still, Votel insisted, “we did gain some valuable information.”
According to Votel’s testimony, CENTCOM has determined that there were between four and 12 civilian casualties caused in the raid.
Explaining his investigation into the raid and its After Action Review, Votel said he looks for “indicators of incompetence or poor decision-making” and that after review, he was satisifed “that none of those indicators that I identified to you were present.” As a result, he explained, he found no need for an additional investigation.
After Votel testified, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made a point that “the heroism and sacrifice of those who served has nothing to do with the mission itself.”
“That mission was not a success,” McCain added, “but that happens in war.”
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