金美淑女儿:Panetta: US within reach of “Strategic Defeat...

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Panetta: US within reach of “Strategic Defeating Al-Qaida”





USMC Lt. GeneralJohn Allen (L) and U.S. Army General David Petraeus (C) greet U.S. Secretary ofDefense Leon Panetta after Panetta's arrival in Kabul, Afghanistan, July 9, 2011.Panetta arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, saying he believed the strategicdefeat of al Qaeda was within reach if the United States could kill or captureup to 20 remaining leaders.




Defense Secretary Leon Panettasaid the U.S. is within reach of "strategically defeating" al Qaedaand, with Osama bin Laden dead, is mounting a concerted campaign to hunt downthe network's 10 to 20 remaining senior leaders in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia andNorth Africa.


Mr. Panetta's comments, madeprior to landing in Kabul on Saturday, signaled his intention to direct theU.S. military and its vast resources to striking al Qaeda and affiliatedtargets across the globe as the U.S. withdraws troops from costly and unpopularconflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.


"I think now is themoment, following what happened with bin Laden, to put maximum pressure onthem, because I do believe that if we continue this effort, that we can reallycripple al Qaeda as a threat to this country," said Mr. Panetta, whoserved as director of the Central Intelligence Agency before taking the helm ofthe Pentagon last week.


The U.S. military campaign isaimed at robbing al Qaeda of its ability to plan and orchestrate strikesagainst the United States and other Western targets, although officials say thegroup's adherents could still conduct smaller terror attacks which wouldrequire little planning or equipment. Al Qaeda solidified its reputation as theworld's most-feared terror group with such spectacular attacks as the Sept. 11hijackings, the bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and theMadrid train massacre.


The U.S. military alreadycarries out strikes against al Qaeda targets in Yemen and Somalia in closecoordination with the CIA. In the tribal areas of Pakistan, along the Afghanborder, the CIA conducts a larger-scale drone-strike campaign targeting top alQaeda leaders and affiliated militants. Mr. Panetta's comments suggest themilitary's pace of operations will likely increase in partnership with the CIAand other agencies.


In the aftermath of bin Laden'sdeath and apparently with the benefit of new intelligence gained in the raid onhis compound, the U.S. has determined that eliminating "somewhere around10 to 20 key leaders" of al-Qaida would cripple the network, Panetta said.Those leaders are in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and North Africa, he said.


Asked why he feels confidentabout wiping out al-Qaida, Panetta said, "The key is that having gottenbin Laden, we've now identified some of the key leadership within al-Qaida bothin Pakistan as well as in Yemen and other areas."


He named only two of theleaders on the list:


_Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden'sdesignator successor. Panetta said the U.S. believes al-Zawahri is living inthe Federally Administered Tribal Areas of western Pakistan.


_Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-bornMuslim cleric living in Yemen. The U.S. has put him on a kill-or-capture list.


Counterterrorism officials havecast bin Laden's death at the hands of U.S. Navy SEALs as a major blow to alQaeda. But Mr. Panetta's public comments about al Qaeda's decline were the mostfar-reaching to date about what he described as a final push to defeat thenetwork globally.


Some counterterrorism expertsare more cautious. They say al Qaeda proved capable of reconstituting itself in2001 and that its ability to do so again shouldn't be underestimated. The groupretains a number of key leaders, most notably the group's new Egyptian head,Ayman al-Zawahiri, but also its operations chief, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, and itspropaganda chief, Abu Yahya al-Libi. The group also still relies on the publicoutreach capabilities of two men born or raised in the U.S.—Adam Gadahn andAdnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah. Al Qaeda also retains a number of small trainingcamps in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and has expanded its haven in Yemen,taking advantage of civil unrest there.


"We're within reach ofstrategically defeating al Qaeda," Mr. Panetta told reporters on theflight, in his first news conference as defense secretary.


"The key is that, havinggotten bin Laden, we've now identified some of the key leadership within alQaeda, both in Pakistan as well as in Yemen and other areas, that if we can besuccessful at going after them, I think we can really undermine their abilityto do any kind of planning to be able to conduct any kind of attack on thiscountry," Mr. Panetta said.






Leon Panetta testifies during his confirmation hearing to become Defense Secretary in this June 9, 2011 file photo.


President Barack Obama's choiceof Mr. Panetta for defense secretary and of Gen. David Petraeus, the topcommander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, to head the CIA, highlights what manyobservers see as a blurring of the lines between the roles of the military andthe nation's top spy agency.


Panetta said he hoped his shiftfrom CIA director to defense secretary, combined with a change of U.S. civilianand military leaders in Kabul, will put the troubled U.S.-Afghan relationship"back on the right track."


It also shows the extent towhich many in the Obama administration favor special-operations missions usingdrones and commandos, over costly, troop-intensive counterinsurgency campaignssuch as the one in Afghanistan.


Gen. Petraeus, speaking toreporters in Kabul, concurred with Mr. Panetta's assessment of al Qaeda'svulnerability, citing "enormous pressure" on the senior leadership,particularly in Pakistan. But Gen. Petraeus said: "There may be elementsof al Qaeda around for some time. The brand will be out there. The question iswhether they can effectively plan and execute strategic attacks."


Mr. Panetta and Gen. Petraeussingled out Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula as a major focus.


The U.S. considers the group tobe the al Qaeda network's most active and dangerous affiliate. Since May, theU.S. military has launched drone strikes against al Qaeda targets inside Yemen,including an American-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who many counterterrorismofficials consider to be the most charismatic al Qaeda leader other than thelate bin Laden. The CIA plans to soon launch its own drone program to increasepressure on the Yemeni group, officials say.


The U.S. military has alsorecently conducted at least one drone strike in Somalia targeting al Shabaab, amilitant group that officials say collaborates closely with the Yemeni chapter.Earlier this week, the U.S. indicted a Somali man and charged him withsupporting al Qaeda affiliates in both Somalia and Yemen, a sign of increasedsynergy between the groups, officials said.


Mr. Panetta also singled out alQaeda's North African branch, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, as a U.S.target.


Mr. Obama chose Mr. Panetta tosucceed Robert Gates as defense secretary in part because of his experienceoverseeing the drone campaign in Pakistan. The program, launched under formerPresident George W. Bush, has dramatically expanded under Mr. Obama.


Mr. Panetta said the CIA andmilitary have already been successful at undermining al Qaeda's ability toconduct large-scale attacks. He said al-Qaeda's central leadership was alsofinding it "harder and harder" to raise funds, further undercuttingthe network's "operational capability."


Senior U.S. officials,including Mr. Panetta, irked Islamabad in May by publicly voicing suspicionsthat bin Laden, who had been hiding in a Pakistani town not far from thecapital, had received support from Pakistani military or intelligenceofficials, allowing him to elude detection by the U.S.


Mr. Panetta told reporters theverdict was still out on who may have helped shelter the al Qaeda leader. Mr.Panetta said there were "suspicions" bin Laden received help fromPakistani military or intelligence elements but added that there was "nosmoking gun."


Before leaving the CIA, Mr.Panetta met in Islamabad with his Pakistani counterparts to urge them to helpthe U.S. go after remaining al Qaeda targets, including Mr. Zawahiri. Mr.Panetta said the U.S. believes Mr. Zawahiri is hiding in the tribal areas ofPakistan.


In Kabul, Mr. Panetta met withmilitary commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.


Mr. Panetta said one of thebiggest challenges the U.S. faces in withdrawing from Afghanistan is buildingup Afghan security forces capable of taking over for U.S. troops.


But he also made clear U.S.goals were limited to establishing "sufficient stability in both Iraq andAfghanistan so that al Qaeda and their militant allies don't find a safe haventhere."


At one point Saturday, Panettatold reporters that 70,000 troops would remain "through 2014." Hisspokesman, Doug Wilson, later said Panetta meant to say that the 70,000 thatwill remain in September 2012 will be drawn down through 2014 on a schedulethat has not yet been worked out.


"It's big, it'scomplicated, it's filled with sophisticated technology, it's bumpy, but in theend it's the best in the world."






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