[Peace-discuss] US worried peace may break out

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Come on! The US needs this damn war! Without it our imperial control is up the 
creek. (We need some Blackwater...) The administration is working as hard as 
possible to see that the war continues - up to and including Obama's simply 
reversing himself this weekend about the July 2011 withdrawal. It looks now like 
the only way it can be stopped is like Vietnam - a revolt in the Congress and 
the military, precipitated by public opinion..  --CGE]

	Panetta dismisses reports that al-Qaeda ally seeks reconciliation
	By Peter Finn
	Washington Post Staff Writer
	Sunday, June 27, 2010; 1:22 PM

CIA director Leon Panetta Sunday dismissed reports that the network of 
Sirajuddin Haqqani, a major element in the insurgency in Afghanistan and an ally 
of al-Qaeda, was open to a Pakistan-brokered reconciliation process that could 
usher the group into a power-sharing arrangement in Kabul.

"We have seen no evidence that they are truly interested in reconciliation where 
they would surrender their arms, where they would denounce al-Qaeda, where they 
would really try to become part of that society," Panetta said on "This Week," 
on ABC. "We have seen no evidence of that and very frankly my view is that with 
regards to reconciliation unless they're convinced the United States is going to 
win and that they are going to be defeated, I think it is very difficult to 
proceed with a reconciliation that is going to be meaningful," he said.

The remarks seemed designed to challenge efforts by senior Pakistani military 
and intelligence officials to orchestrate a deal that could drive a wedge 
between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the United States, and rehabilitate 
the Haqqani network, a long-time Pakistani asset.

"Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that 
there is no safe haven for al-Qaeda or for a militant Taliban that welcomes 
al-Qaeda," Panetta said. "That is the measure of success for the United States." 
But he acknowledged that the fight has proved "harder" and "slower than I think 
anyone anticipated."

Panetta's remarks came as a suspected CIA missile launched from a drone killed 
three militants in North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's tribal areas where 
Panetta said al-Qaeda is now concentrated. He said there were at most 50 to 100 
al-Qaeda operatives inside Afghanistan. And without explicitly acknowledging the 
drone campaign by the CIA, he said the actions of the United States were in 
compliance with domestic and international law.

Panetta also warned that U.S. citizenship was no protection for those who 
conspire against the United States. He had been asked about Anwar al-Aulaqi, the 
American-born cleric, now in Yemen, who has been linked with a succession of 
terrorist attacks from the Fort Hood shootings to the attempted bombing on a 
Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day.

"Aulaqi is a terrorist and yes, he is a U.S. citizen, but he is first and 
foremost a terrorist, and we are going to treat him like a terrorist," said 
Panetta when asked if Aulaqi was on an assassination list. "We don't have an 
assassination list, but I can you tell you this we have a terrorist list and 
he's on it." Intelligence and counter-terrorism officials have said that Aulaqi 
is on a target list of terrorists who can be killed.

Panetta said the agency has hired Xe Services, the controversial company once 
known as Blackwater, to proved security at CIA installations in Afghanistan, but 
he said the company would have no role in actual operations. Panetta said Xe 
underbid other security companies by $26 million to secure the $100 million 
contract, and that the firm, whose guards allegedly opened fire on unarmed 
civilians in Iraq, had "shaped up their act."

On other subjects, Panetta said Iran has enough low-enriched uranium for two 
nuclear bombs but that it would take two years for the country to build the 
bombs and a weapon-delivery system. He said the latest round of U.N. sanctions 
will weaken Iran, but is unlikely to end the country's nuclear ambitions. But he 
said it was still a matter of debate whether Iran has made the decision to 
proceed with the bomb.

Panetta also that some of North Korea's recent actions, such as the attack on a 
South Korean warship, are part of an attempt by Kim Jong Il to burnish the 
succession bona fides of his son, Kim Jong Un.

"Our intelligence shows that at the present time there is a process of 
succession going on," said Panetta. "Part of the provocations that are going on, 
part of the skirmishes that are going on, are in part related to trying to 
establish credibility for the son, and that makes it a dangerous period."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/27/AR2010062701928.html

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