Earnest: Al-Qaeda's Been 'Decimated,' But Some Dangerous Ones Still 'Hiding'

White House press secretary Josh Earnest stressed today what the Obama administration has maintained for years — that it “decimated” al-Qaeda — but admitted that, then again, they’re still around.

“This Afghanistan-Pakistan region is — had previously been home to a large number of core al-Qaeda leaders,” Earnest told reporters during the daily briefing. “They have been decimated, but there are still a number of dangerous core al-Qaeda leaders that are hiding, frankly, in this region of the world.”

“By hiding there and by plotting and planning against the United States from that location, they pose a unique threat to American military personnel that are currently stationed in Afghanistan,” he said. “As you know, there are about 10,000 U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan right now.”

Earnest also didn’t want to call the unintentional killing of two Americans who joined al-Qaeda — Adam Gadahn and Ahmed Farouq — an accident.

“The word ‘accident’ leaves one with the connotation that the consequences of the action were negative. And as I mentioned yesterday, these two individuals, both Mr. Farouk and Mr. Gadahn, were al-Qaeda leaders. They were playing an influential role in an organization that is actively planning against the United States and our interests,” he said.

“They were frequenting a compound that had been identified based on extensive intelligence as an al-Qaeda compound, and strikes were taken that — operations were conducted that took them off the battlefield. And that is a result that has improved the safety and security of the American people.”

So neither “accidental” nor “unintentional” apply, Earnest reasoned.

“The operation against the al-Qaeda compound was carried out with the intent to take off the battlefield al-Qaeda leaders that frequented the compound. That was the intent of the operation. And in that respect, the operation fulfilled its mission,” he said.

“Now, in one respect, there was a tragic, unintended consequence which is that the operation also resulted in the death of an innocent American hostage. That clearly was unintentional and that clearly was an accident — the death of this innocent American hostage.”

A reason they’re likely watching their wording so much about Gadahn and Farouq: Earnest admitted “there is a specific legal process for a policy decision being made to specifically target a U.S. citizen.”

“That was not done in the case of Mr. Gadahn and Mr. Farouk because they were not identified as high-value targets,” he added. “However, they — there is ample evidence to indicate that they were al-Qaeda leaders. The fact that they were frequenting what had identified as — had been identified as an al-Qaeda compound is the reason that they were claimed in this operation.”