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Panetta Says Defeat of Al Qaeda ‘Within Reach’
New York Times ^

Posted on 07/09/2011 8:42:50 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

Panetta Says Defeat of Al Qaeda ‘Within Reach’ By ELISABETH BUMILLER

KABUL, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who arrived in Kabul on Saturday, said that the United States was “within reach of strategically defeating Al Qaeda” and that the American focus had narrowed to capturing or killing 10 to 20 crucial leaders of the terrorist group in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

Mr. Panetta, who took over as defense secretary from Robert M. Gates on July 1, made his comments aboard his plane before arriving on an unannounced trip to Kabul, the Afghan capital.

They were Mr. Panetta’s first public remarks as defense secretary and among the most positive from a senior American national security official about the decade-old war against the terrorist organization, founded by Osama bin Laden, which was responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Mr. Panetta, who as director of the Central Intelligence Agency ran the American commando raid that killed Bin Laden in Pakistan on May 2, said that one of his goals was to defeat Al Qaeda.

“Obviously we made an important start with that in getting rid of Bin Laden,” Mr. Panetta said. “But I was convinced in my capacity and I’m convinced in this capacity that we’re within reach of strategically defeating Al Qaeda. And I’m hoping to be able to focus on that, working obviously with my prior agency as well.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: 2012electionbias; afghanistan; alqaeda; bush; pakistan; panetta; punetta; somalia; surrender; waronterror; whiteflag; wot; yemen
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To: Sub-Driver; sickoflibs; rabscuttle385; stephenjohnbanker

If Panetta believes his own words maybe I can get him to buy that bridge I own.


41 posted on 07/09/2011 10:46:34 PM PDT by Impy (Don't call me red.)
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To: Impy; Sub-Driver; sickoflibs; rabscuttle385

” If Panetta believes his own words maybe I can get him to buy that bridge I own. “

I still feel bad about selling you that....


42 posted on 07/10/2011 8:01:46 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (God, family, country, mom, apple pie, the girl next door and a Ford F250 to pull my boat.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Soooo are not the “Libyan Kinetic blah blah Al Qaeda allies to the US and NATO.” Or is that the Muzzie-B-Hood clan? Taliban are our friends now as long as we continue to sacrifice our American blood at a rapid pace they are our friends, just ask our government, meanwhile guns will be outlawed in America because our governement had walking guns to umm now Hizbollah camps and Mexican drug lords South of the border, clearly it’s the citizens fault * lotta sarcasm and thruths here*


43 posted on 07/13/2011 7:55:55 AM PDT by Karliner (Now this is not the end. .... But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning, Churchill 1942)
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