It comes after the United States Congress on Thursday passed Obama's plan to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels to battle ISIS militants, a key plank of his strategy to smash the militants who have overrun vast areas of Iraq and Syria.
Panetta told CBS's “60 Minutes” news program in an interview aired Sunday that he and then secretary of state Hillary Clinton had urged Obama in 2012 to arm moderate Syrian rebels against President Bashar al-Assad.
“I think the president's concern, and I understand it, was that he had a fear that if we started providing weapons, we wouldn't know where those weapons would wind up,” said Panetta, defense secretary when the US pulled out of Iraq in 2011.
“My view was: you have to begin somewhere,” added Panetta, also a former CIA director.
Asked if not arming them had been a mistake, he replied: “I think that would've helped. And I think in part, we pay the price for not doing that in what we see happening with ISIS.”
Panetta cautioned that it would take “a long time” to defeat ISIS.
“And I think the American people need to know it's going to take a long time,” he added, describing Iraq's failure to stem the militant tide “a tragic story.”
Panetta admitted that he had not been confident that pulling U.S. forces out of Iraq in 2011 was the right thing to do.
“No, I wasn't. I really thought that it was important for us to maintain a presence in Iraq,” he said.
Last Update: Monday, 22 September 2014 KSA 08:09 - GMT 05:09
AFP
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/09/22/U-S-too-late-on-Syria-ex-Pentagon-chief-warns.html
22/9/14
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Related:
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Kerry: ‘We must shut borders’ to defeat ISIS/ISIL. --(“We do not believe there is a military solution, ultimately, to Syria")
US House okay's Obama's plan to train, equip Syrian rebels
China calls for respect of sovereignty as US widens airstrikes in Iraq and Syria
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Panetta says US paying the price for not arming Syrian rebels....
ReplyDeleteFormer Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said Sunday that he believes the Islamic State terror group was able to flourish in part because the U.S. entered the conflict in Syria too late, saying the Obama administration should have armed the country’s moderate rebels earlier.
Panetta, who served in the Obama administration from July 2011 to February 2013, said in an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” that he was in support of arming the moderate Syrian rebels in 2012, along with several other members of the administration.
“I think that would've helped,” Panetta said. “And I think in part, we pay the price for not doing that in what we see happening with ISIS.”
According to CBS News, Panetta writes in his new book “Worthy Fights” that he, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the director of the CIA and the joint chiefs chairman all urged Obama to arm the rebels at a 2012 meeting.
“The real key was how can we develop a leadership group among the opposition that would be able to take control,” Panetta said. “And my view was to have leverage to do that; we would have to provide the weapons and the training in order for them to really be willing to work with us in that effort.”
However, Obama decided against it.......................http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/09/22/panetta-says-us-paying-price-for-not-arming-syrian-rebels/
22/9/14
GB: 9 personnes arrêtées, Londres prêt à rejoindre la coalition en Irak...
ReplyDeleteLondres a annoncé ce jeudi avoir arrêté neuf hommes soupçonnés d'appartenance ou de soutien à une organisation interdite par les lois sur la lutte contre le terrorisme islamiste. Ceci alors que la Grande-Bretagne est sur le point de rejoindre la coalition contre le groupe terroriste Etat islamique en Irak.
Le prédicateur radical Anjem Choudary ainsi que huit hommes ont été arrêtés. Ces neuf hommes sont suspectés d'appartenir à l'organisation britannique islamiste, Al-Muhajiroun et d'encourager le terrorisme, selon l'agence Press Association. Anjem Choudary était le leader de la filière, jusqu'à ce qu'il soit interdit de territoire quatre ans auparavant.............http://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_gb-9-personnes-arretees-londres-pret-a-rejoindre-la-coalition-en-irak?id=8363631
25/9/14