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| US official signals end to war against al Qaeda |
| 2012-12-02 |
| [Dawn] The United States must prepare for a time when it no longer is at war with al Qaeda and when sweeping legal powers ushered in after the September 11, 2001 attacks come to an end, the Pentagon's top lawyer said. The address by Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson marked the first time a senior US official publicly raised the possibility of an end to the so-called "war on terror," launched by former president George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. With the US military campaign against al Qaeda now entering its 12th year, "we must also ask ourselves: how will this conflict end?" Johnson said Thursday in remarks delivered at the Oxford Union in Britannia. The terror network, which is under steady pressure, eventually will become so weak that it would no longer will make sense to maintain a legal framework for all-out war, Johnson said, according to a text released by the Pentagon. "I do believe that on the present course, there will come a tipping point -- a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of al Qaeda and its affiliates have been killed or captured, and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that al Qaeda as we know it, the organization that our Congress authorized the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed," he said. It would then fall to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to go after al Qaeda's remnants, said Johnson, a long-time political ally of President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... "At that point, we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an 'armed conflict' against al Qaeda and its associated forces," he said. Instead, the government would pursue "a counterterrorism effort against individuals who are the scattered remnants of al Qaeda, or are parts of groups unaffiliated with al Qaeda, for which the law enforcement and intelligence resources of our government are principally responsible, in cooperation with the international community -- with our military assets available in reserve to address continuing and imminent terrorist threats." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #7 The GWOT will be over when Radical Islam, Muslims + Clerics [Mullahs], stop obeying "ISLAM RULES, OR ISLAM IS DESTROYED" adage. As things stand, THE QUESTION IS NOT "IS THE US DONE WID AL-QAEDA", BUT MORE "IS AL-QAEDA DONE WID THE US"??? "Post-US" China = "anti-US" Iran + Radical Islam = going allout for Global Superpower status AMAP ASAP ALAP - GEOPOL "PARITY" AT MINIMA, SUPERIORITY-IFF-NOT-DOMINATION PREFERRED. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-12-02 22:52 |
| #6 "the Pentagon's top lawyer said" Five simple words to explain why we fought 12 years against a 'tribal army' to stalemate instead of quick victory. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2012-12-02 18:31 |
| #5 OK. This is officially a clown show. ...and when sweeping legal powers ushered in after the September 11, 2001 attacks come to an end, the Pentagon's top lawyer said. If that were true, oh you blind sheep of obama, then you man would have done this already. Instead, what you got was an autopen, not even the respect of personal attention, to increase domestic espionage. Also, set precedent with the marked killing of a US citizen. What this article is saying is that future problems will be considered a police action, so what we will then need is a domestic police force on par with military requirements. Here is the groundwork for those jackboot police chants you damned liberals have been harping about. You are doing it, and don't think because you got high at some OWS event you will be safe. In fact you will be heeled first. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-12-02 16:46 |
| #4 Ladies and Gentlemen, our new Representative to Al-Qaeda. Soon to be representing our interests to them in person, with fig leaves and animal crackers. |
| Posted by: Charles 2012-12-02 13:31 |
| #3 jeh johnson has a long career being a flunky he was a flunky for Clinton, for JohnKerry and now for Obama in between he worked for a Wall st law firm the remarks have so many caveats and qualifiers in them that they are logically without meaning but the leftist rubes who don't like the endless drone warfare and supposed to be comforted by those remarks |
| Posted by: lord garth 2012-12-02 04:11 |
| #2 "At that point, we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an 'armed conflict' against al Qaeda and its associated forces," he said. We'll just refer to it as Chicago style, political assassination if it's all the same to you. said Johnson, a long-time political ally of President Barack Obama Yes, I gathered that from the photo. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-12-02 02:45 |
| #1 Victory by administrative fiat. Good luck with that! As the man said, you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2012-12-02 00:32 |