Rice defends CIA missile strike in Yemen

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has given U.S. officials "broad authority in a variety of circumstances" to protect the country, such as the CIA missile strike that killed a top al-Qaida suspect in Yemen, a senior White House aide said Sunday.

"I can assure you that no constitutional questions are raised here. There are authorities that the president can give to officials," said his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.

"He's well within the balance of accepted practice and the letter of his constitutional authority."

Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, described by U.S. and Yemeni officials as al-Qaida's chief operative in Yemen, was killed Tuesday along with five other men after a CIA Predator drone aircraft fired a missile at their car.

Yemeni and U.S. officials said the dead also included a Yemeni-American man, identified by Yemeni officials as Ahmed Hijazi. According to a U.S. official, Hijazi was linked to alleged members of the al-Qaida cell in suburban Buffalo, N.Y.

Rice would not say who authorized the strike.

"The president has given broad authority to U.S. officials in a variety of circumstances to do what they need to do to protect the country," Rice said on "Fox News Sunday."

"We're in a new kind of war, and we've made very clear that it is important that this new kind of war be fought on different battlefields."

She said the United States has had "very good cooperation with the Yemeni on a variety of things" and noted that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has spoken about that.

The CIA strike also killed four other men described as al-Qaida operatives.

Al-Harethi was believed to have coordinated the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, which killed 17 U.S. sailors.