No Israel decision on Iran attack: Obama

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said he did not think Israel had made a decision on whether to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear installations, a threat that has rattled the region.

Obama — seeking to reassure Americans over the danger posed by Tehran’s suspect nuclear program, and any negative side-effects for the United States — said Washington was working “in lockstep” with Israel to bring Iran to heel.

“I don’t think Israel has made a decision” to strike Iranian facilities, Obama said in a pre-Super Bowl interview with NBC.

When asked if Washington would be consulted first should Israel move ahead with those plans, he said he could not go into specifics but added that the two allies had “closer intelligence and military consultations” than ever before.

“My number one priority continues to be the security of the United States. But also, the security of Israel. And we’re going to make sure that we work in lockstep, as we proceed to try to solve this — hopefully diplomatically.”

Obama said the Islamic republic was “feeling the pinch” of ever tougher sanctions imposed by the international community, and dismissed concerns that Tehran could retaliate by striking US soil, saying such a strike was unlikely.

“I’ve been very clear — we’re going to do everything we can to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and creating a nuclear arms race in a volatile region,” he said.

“We have mobilized the international community, in a way that is unprecedented. They are feeling the pinch. They are feeling the pressure,” he said.

Iran maintains that its nuclear program is for strictly peaceful purposes.

On whether Tehran could possibly strike US targets, Obama said: “We don’t see any evidence they have those intentions or capabilities.”

He added: “Again, our goal is to resolve this diplomatically. That would be preferable. We’re not going to take options off the table, though.”

Last week, a Washington Post opinion column said US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a “strong likelihood” that Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear installations this spring.

When asked about the newspaper’s article by reporters traveling with him to a NATO meeting in Brussels, Panetta brushed it aside.

“I’m not going to comment on that. (…) Israel indicated they’re considering this (a strike), we’ve indicated our concerns,” he said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was due in Washington on Monday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the United States in early March, though a meeting between Netanyahu and Obama was not yet confirmed.

In the interview with NBC, Obama cautioned that “any kind of additional military activity inside the Gulf is disruptive. And has a big effect on us. It can affect oil prices.” AGENCIES

US clarifies Panetta OBL remarks

TrendPK.com

ISLAMABAD: The United States has denied Defense Secretary Leon Panetta accused Pakistani government of being aware of Osama bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad.

In a statement today (Sunday), a US Embassy spokesperson explained Panetta had talked about the presence of any supporting network in Pakistan. He said no evidence was found about the involvement of Pakistani government about Bin Laden’s presence.

The spokesperson said Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other American officials are working for betterment of Pak-US ties following the OBL raid.

Separately, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has said that if Dr. Shakil’s role was found to be anti-Pakistan, he could not be supported.

No interference would be accepted in Pakistan from any country, he said.

He said political temperature is coming down in the country, which he said, is a positive development.

CIA Acknowledges “Missteps” led to officers’ Deaths

WASHINGTON: The CIA on Tuesday acknowledged “missteps” and “shortcomings” that allowed a would-be informant to enter a U.S. base in Afghanistan and blow himself up on December 30, killing seven CIA officers.

The mistakes included failing to act on warnings about the assailant, a double-agent from Jordanian intelligence, or take security precautions that may have prevented the second most deadly attack in agency history, according to an internal investigation.

Suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi tricked the CIA into believing he could be a useful tool in the battle against al Qaeda, and was invited inside a well-fortified U.S. compound in Khost province in southeast Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan.

“He had confirmed access within extremist circles, making a covert relationship with him — if he was acting in good faith — potentially very productive,” CIA Director Leon Panetta said in note to agency employees. “But he had not rejected his terrorist roots. He was, in fact, a brutal murderer.”

Panetta cited mistakes by the agency revealed in the investigation, notably the CIA’s failure to properly vet Balawi, who made a suicide video released after his death calling on militants to launch more attacks.

But they also included critical security lapses and communication breakdowns.

One of the biggest mistakes may have been the failure of a CIA officer in Jordan to pass along concerns raised by Jordanian intelligence about Balawi’s ties to al Qaeda.

“The Jordanians raised concerns about Balawi,” said a U.S. intelligence official.

“Those concerns were weighed against the information he had already provided, and his potential to lead us to the most senior figures in al Qaeda.”

Immediately after the bombing, Panetta defended the agency against accusations of a security blunder.

In a column written for The Washington Post in January, he said the bomber detonated his explosives just before security guards were about to search him. He said no one ignored the hazards, and it “was not a question of trusting a potential intelligence asset.”

On Tuesday, Panetta suggested the shortcomings within the agency were too broad to isolate blame.

“These missteps occurred because of shortcomings across several agency components in areas including communications, documentation and management oversight,” Panetta said.

“Responsibility cannot be assigned to any particular individual or group.”

England edge past Australia in thriller

MANCHESTER: Australia faltered from 75-0 to 212 all out in the third one-day international against England at Old Trafford on Sunday.

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England edge past Australia in thriller

Iran could have nukes ready by 2012: CIA chief

WASHINGTON: Iran has enough low-enriched uranium to make two weapons, which it could have prepared and ready for delivery as early as 2012, CIA director Leon Panetta warned Sunday.

Original post:
Iran could have nukes ready by 2012: CIA chief

US delivers evidence on Faisal’s Taliban links

WASHINGTON: Senior U.S. officials used an urgent meeting with Pakistan”s president to present a dossier on terrorism suspect Faisal Shahzad, including a detailed chart describing his contacts with the Pakistani Taliban before his attempt to detonate an explosives-laden vehicle in New York City”s Times Square, officials said.

The evidence was part of an emphatic American warning that there would be “inevitable pressure” on the United States to take action if there was an attack traceable to Pakistan that resulted in U.S. casualties, officials familiar with the talks said.

The warning was delivered last week in a visit to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, by White House National Security Advisor James L. Jones and CIA Director Leon E. Panetta, who said Pakistan needed to intensify its crackdown on the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban, or TTP, and other militant groups.

Originally, officials in Islamabad denied that the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group based in the country”s tribal regions, was involved in the May 1 bombing attempt. But in the days since Jones and Panetta met with President Asif Ali Zardari and other leaders, Pakistani officials have begun to acknowledge that the group provided support to Shahzad.

The Taliban initially claimed responsibility for the attempted attack, though it later backed away from the claim and denied even knowing Shahzad.

U.S. officials have become convinced that the TTP, after primarily focusing on attacks against the Pakistani government, is increasingly seeking ways to strike U.S. targets. The group has formed closer links with Al Qaeda and has seemed to adopt the terrorist network”s goal of striking the United States on its own territory.

“We have been lucky in the past, but our luck will run out and in the future, we are likely to face successful attacks,” said a senior U.S. intelligence official, who, like several others, was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The evidence, which included photographs of militants suspected of assisting Shahzad, was shown to Zardari and Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, the army chief of staff, along with other Pakistani officials, U.S. officials said.

Jones and Panetta were attempting to convince the Pakistanis that the U.S. had hard evidence that Shahzad had received support from the Pakistani Taliban, the officials said.

The chart, which was assembled by U.S. intelligence agencies, “showed who all he had contacts with,” one official said, and drew “clear links between Faisal Shahzad and the TTP leaders in Pakistan.”

Jones and Panetta did not spell out action the United States might take, the official said. The delegation did not rule out military action, for example, but it didn”t talk about it specifically, he said.

Whether the U.S. would respond militarily or with lesser steps would depend on the circumstances of an attack and the strength of the evidence implicating militants in Pakistan, several officials said.

The White House originally considered warning Pakistan about the consequences of another attack in a confidential letter from President Obama to Zardari, but it decided to dispatch Jones and Panetta to deliver the message in person.

In addition to that visit, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned publicly in the days after the Times Square attempt that Pakistan faced “very severe consequences” in the event of another plot originating in Pakistan. Her comment provoked a strong backlash in Pakistan.

The Obama administration has been pleased with recent Pakistani military offensives undertaken in the tribal areas. U.S. officials want Islamabad to do more, especially in North Waziristan, but they acknowledge that Pakistan”s military already is stretched.

A U.S. campaign of attacks launched by unmanned aircraft in Pakistan”s tribal belt has been intensified since Obama took office. Pakistan is highly resistant to more than a token U.S. military presence on its territory, and American officials say there are few additional options for unilateral action against militant groups in Pakistan.

But if a terrorist attack launched from the Pakistani tribal belt did result in U.S. casualties, the pressure on the White House to act could be overwhelming, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA official and a terrorism expert at the Brookings Institution.

“Professions by the Pakistanis that they are trying hard won”t cut it anymore,” Riedel said.

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief, Al-Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the US in the next three to six months, the top US spy chief says.
“The chances of an attempted attack are certain. They’re going to try,” US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair replied when asked about the likelihood of an attempted al-Qaeda strike over that time frame.
Blair said the extremist network that carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks would keep targeting the United States until bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have been caught or killed.
“We judge that al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the Homeland preferably with a large scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the US economy, or both,” Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“We assess that at least until Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are dead or captured, al-Qaeda will retain its resolute intent to strike the Homeland,” he said.
With President Barack Obama’s administration under fire for its handling of the attempted Christmas Day bomber, notably informing him of his right to remain silent, Blair declined to say whether bin Laden should get the same treatment if captured.
Instead, Blair said he “would very much hope” that the Saudi-born extremists would be interrogated and that officials would “squeeze” him for information.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress on Tuesday the terrorist organisation is deploying operatives to the US to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including “clean” recruits with a negligible trail of terror contacts. Al-Qaeda is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta added.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that al-Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect,” Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

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Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief was first posted on February 3, 2010 at 1:34 pm.

CIA Chief Of India Met With NSA

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com CIA Chief Of India Met With NSA: CIA chief Leon E Panetta on Saturday met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and discussed issues relating to the presence of terror groups in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan and their impact on India.

Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com CIA Chief Of India Met With NSA: CIA chief Leon E Panetta on Saturday met National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and discussed issues relating to the presence of terror groups in neighbouring Pakistan and Afghanistan and their impact on India.
Panetta, who arrived here late last night after his visit [...]