"Deaths Lamentable but Unavoidable"??

Daily Times, January 16, 2005
Deaths lamentable, but unavoidable, says McCain

WASHINGTON: A senior US senator lamented on Sunday the loss of innocent life during a US bombing raid in the Bajaur Agency, but said that such casualties are “unavoidable” as Washington robustly pursues its war on terror.

“It’s terrible when innocent people are killed. We regret that. But we have to do what we think is necessary to take out Al Qaeda, particularly the top operatives,” US Senator John McCain told CBS television’s ‘Face the Nation’ programme.

“We regret it. We understand the anger that people feel, but the United States’ priorities are to get rid of Al Qaeda, and this was an effort to do so,” the Republican lawmaker said. “We apologise, but I can’t tell you that we wouldn’t do the same thing again,” McCain said.

He made his remarks after thousands of protestors took to the streets in Pakistan to condemn the US air strike that officials said targeted Al Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri, but instead killed 18 villagers near the Afghan border.