Bipartisan Support for U.S. Hostage Rescue Mission Gone Awry
LEMON: Want to get to Washington now. In a rare show of bipartisan support, and a</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don. You know, these hostage rescues are perhaps some of the most dangerous work that U.S. special forces do anywhere in the word. This time, as you say, they were trying to rescue this American hostage Luke Somers. They did not know Pierre Korkie was there. They another man was there; they did not know who he was. That according to U.S. officials. It did not work in the end. The fire fight broke out and the U.S. believes the al Qaeda terrorists very killed the hostages at that point, shot them. The U.S. tried to save them but ultimately both men died. Over the weekend, top lawmakers voiced their support for this very risky mission. Have a listen.</s>REP. MIKE ROGERS (R-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: If we're going to be extorted into paying ransom to al Qaeda so they can rape women and imprison women and blow up buildings and kill civilians -- men, women, and children -- that's a pretty bad plan to start with. So I agreed with the president's decision.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I think you end up just funding other hostage taking and the cycle perpetuates itself. So i think our decision is the right one.</s>STARR: So what does it take to make one of these missions successful in the end? Well, you have to have perfect intelligence. You have to know exactly where they are. You have to know where the bad guys are. You have to know the whole lay of the land. In this case, as the Navy SEALs were approaching the compound, a fire fight broke out. The al Qaeda terrorists apparently knew that the SEALs were coming at the last minute or that someone was coming. The U.S. says they believe that maybe the men were given away by something as simple as a dog barking in the distance. Don.</s>LEMON: Oh my gosh -- goodness. Thank you, Barbara. Sorry. Appreciate that. Still to come here on CNN, another major winter storm taking shape, threatening more extreme weather and headaches for some 22 million Americans. CNN's Chad Myers joins me with the latest.</s>CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Don, major rain up and down the coast, up to a half a foot of rain in Maine and a half of foot snow inland. That forecast is coming up right after this break.