Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta confirmed on Friday that al Qaeda has a "presence in Syria."
At a briefing at the Pentagon with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Panetta was asked by a reporter, "Secretary Panetta, if I may, on al Qaeda in Syria, you've said that we don't have any indication of al Qaeda in that -- those double explosions that took place in Damascus. But what kind of assessment do you have on al Qaeda activity in Syria? Because the Syrian government confirms that al-Qaida is active in Syria. Do you have an indication to say that al Qaeda is actually active, how big it is, and is it a concern for you?"
Panetta responded by confirming the terrorist group's presence, but provided few details.
Al Qaeda anywhere is a concern for us," said Panetta. "And we do -- we do have intelligence that indicates that there is an al Qaeda presence in Syria. But frankly, we don't have very good intelligence as to just exactly what their activities are. And that's the reason we can't really indicate specifically what they are or are not doing. But they are a concern. And frankly, we need to continue to do everything we can to determine what kind of influence they are trying to exert there.
Panetta also reiterated that America's position is for Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad to go, but again provided few details on what, if anything, America is doing to hasten his demise.
Obviously, the situation in Syria remains of great concern. This -- you know, the cease-fire does not appear to be working. And Annan himself has indicated concerns about whether or not parties are abiding by the cease-fire. We continue to urge Assad to step down, that there must be a change there. They've lost their legitimacy by the huge number of deaths that are taking place in Syria.
And again, we are working with the international community to try to make sure we take all steps necessary to try to do what we can to implement the necessary political reforms to have Assad step down and to try to return Syria to the Syrian people.
This is not easy. There are no easy courses here. But I think the most important thing we can do now is to continue to work with the international community to bring pressure on Syria to do the right thing.
Earlier today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the “The United States and NATO will seek to end their combat mission in Afghanistan next year and shift to a role of providing support and training to Afghan security forces,” the Washington Post reported. In other words, America will end combat operations a year earlier in Afghanistan.
Yet, at today’s White House press briefing, spokesman Jay Carney said he doesn’t “believe for the last several months there has been a president-run AfPak strategy meeting or AfPak implementation meeting.”
Obama administration bigwigs are falling all over themselves to denounce, condemn, lament, and apologize for the unfortunate behavior of a few Marines in Afghanistan last year. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta condemned the action as not just deplorable but “utterly deplorable.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed not just dismay but “total dismay.”
The Senate passed the Kirk-Menendez amendment last week—which would sanction the Central Bank of Iran and other financial institutions—by a startling 100-0 vote. The Obama administration opposed the legislation and is currently working to weaken the sanctions as the bill as now in conference. Josh Rogin reports:
One of the core strategic beliefs of the Obama administration has been that their Bush predecessors overreacted to the attacks of 9/11 and became obsessively focused on the greater Middle East at the expense of East Asia or the “Asia-Pacific,” where the rise of China and India presages a new constellation of global great powers. This, perhaps more than Russia policy, has been Obama’s idea of a strategic “reset” for the future.
At a House Armed Services Committee yesterday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey warned against making further reductions to future defense spending, telling lawmakers that further cuts will “truly devastate our national defense.”
There is a certain irony, as well as much truth, in Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s drumbeat of warnings about the consequences of further cuts to U.S. military budgets of the sort threatened under the current deficit reduction law.
President Obama's defense secretary, Leon Panetta, sent an email message on Friday to all U.S. military personnel and all other employees of the Department of Defense about the debt ceiling.
