A deadly U.S. military raid in Yemen last month that targeted a high-ranking terrorist was not poorly planned, Army Gen. Raymond Thomas said Tuesday.
According to Military.com, Thomas spoke with reporters and blasted reports that said the Jan. 19 raid, which resulted in the death of Navy SEAL William "Ryan" Owens, was a rush job with bad intelligence.
Thomas called those reports "absolutely incorrect."
The raid was the first such operation under President Donald Trump, and he signed off on it before it was launched. The target was Qassim al-Rimi, the head of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. He was not injured in the raid, and it is unclear if he was even there.
A U.S. MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing aircraft had to be destroyed after it suffered engine problems and crash-landed. Three soldiers were injured in that crash. Owens was killed in a firefight with al-Qaida militants.
More than a dozen members of al-Qaida were killed, while reports say about 30 civilians died.
Thomas is the commander of United States Special Operations Command.
"I don't think that there's awareness in the great American public that we're a country at war, that ISIL and al-Qaida are in countless countries," Thomas said. "That an operation like Yemen is what goes on any given night out there. And, unfortunately, it wasn't in that context.
"But in context, I think America needs to know we're in a tough fight right now. We're making progress, but unless we get governance on the backside of our military efforts, this is going to be a long struggle."
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