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Washington (CNN)The White House asked the Pentagon for information it could make public in President Donald Trump’s Tuesday night address about a controversial Special Operation raid in Yemen to better explain the mission’s purpose and demonstrate that the results were worth its costs, CNN has learned.
The request came Monday night, two administration officials said. They stressed, though, that it’s not clear what details the speech will actually include, if any, as it continues to be revised.
The White House confirmed that it had spoken to the Pentagon, but a senior administration official who has seen the addresssaid the raid is not referred to in the current version — but that’s not a guarantee that it won’t end up in there by 9 p.m.
The controversial raid on an al Qaeda affiliate, conducted one week into Trump’s presidency, was the US military’s first on-the-ground mission in Yemen since his election. A Navy SEAL and several civilians were killed when the team came under attack from al Qaeda, with others wounded and a US aircraft lost.
The administration described the raid as a success.But it has been criticized by the father of the fallen Navy SEAL, as well as some members of Congress who have raised questions about the value of the mission.
They cautioned that some of the intelligence may indirectly lead them to other targets even months from now, so a final conclusion on the raid’s value is difficult to determine.
All of the officials CNN spoke with broadly sketched out the same scenario: A large amount of intelligence and data was gathered in the raid, even as the major firefight broke out.
“That intelligence can possibly be used to conduct further strikes or raids to inhibit AQAP,” one official told CNN. The intelligence assessment of the information gathered is ongoing but “the quantity and quality of the information is high,” the official said.
The officials dispute an NBC News report that declared the raid had yet to yield any actionable intelligence.The evaluation has not been completed, the sources said, and it would be unfair to make such a conclusion at this point.Officials do believe valuable information has been gained, according to the sources.
There is special sensitivity in this matter because of public statements by the father of the fallen Navy SEAL, who is questioning the raid. Bill Owens called for an investigation into his son’s death in a news story published Sunday.
“I want an investigation,” Owens told The Miami Herald.”The government owes my son an investigation.”
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