"All" blame in hostage crisis on terrorists, not Algerian government, says W.H. adviser
(CBS News) The White House has no additional information on the seven Americans who were at the Algerian gas refinery where Islamic militants took dozens of foreign workers hostage earlier this week, senior adviser David Plouffe said today on "Face the Nation." And while the administration believes it has decimated "a lot of al Qaeda's top leadership," it's going to take a "global response," he said, to ensure fewer of these attacks in the future.
"I think what this shows is countries around the world share a common thread - It's why we work so closely with our counterterrorism partners on sharing information and expertise and technology," Plouffe said. "But it's going to take a global response to this and I think it shows that whether it's in North Africa, Yemen, there are real threats out there from terrorism and we need to stay vigilant."
To end the hostage crisis, Algerian special forces stormed the natural gas complex in the Sahara desert Saturday, killing all 32 militants and at least 23 hostages. Plouffe said the administration will be working closely with the Algerian government in the days ahead to get "a full understanding of what happened" and whether its tactics were necessary.
But, he emphasized, "all of the blame here" should be "on the terrorists, obviously, who committed this act to use innocent civilians in their twisted aims."
