forrest
12-02-2009, 04:41 PM
As he justified sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $30 billion a year, President Barack Obama's description Tuesday of the al-Qaeda "cancer" in that country left out one key fact: U.S. intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al-Qaeda fighters in the entire country.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al-Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department.Photo Op Panic: 911 Calls Reveal Terror during NYC Air Force One Flyover - ABC News (http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7453062&page=1)
The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.
President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al-Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, "al-Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border."
A spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, Chris Hensman, said he could not comment on intelligence matters.
President Obama's Secret: Only 100 al-Qaeda Now in Afghanistan - ABC News (http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/president-obamas-secret-100-al-qaeda-now-afghanistan/story?id=9227861)
"War is the public agenda for the hidden desires of a private elite" ~ Bodazey
"Dictatorships start wars because they need external enemies to exert internal control over their own people." ~ Richard Perle
"Peace is the only battle worth waging." ~ Albert Camus
When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent. ~ Isaac Asimov
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.---Abraham Lincoln
"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." ~ J. Edgar Hoover
"Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
"If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within." ~ President James Madison
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it." ~ General Douglas Macarthur, 1957
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al-Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department.Photo Op Panic: 911 Calls Reveal Terror during NYC Air Force One Flyover - ABC News (http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=7453062&page=1)
The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.
President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al-Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, "al-Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border."
A spokesperson at the White House's National Security Council, Chris Hensman, said he could not comment on intelligence matters.
President Obama's Secret: Only 100 al-Qaeda Now in Afghanistan - ABC News (http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/president-obamas-secret-100-al-qaeda-now-afghanistan/story?id=9227861)
"War is the public agenda for the hidden desires of a private elite" ~ Bodazey
"Dictatorships start wars because they need external enemies to exert internal control over their own people." ~ Richard Perle
"Peace is the only battle worth waging." ~ Albert Camus
When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent. ~ Isaac Asimov
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.---Abraham Lincoln
"The individual is handicapped by coming face to face with a conspiracy so monstrous he cannot believe it exists." ~ J. Edgar Hoover
"Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as the war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."
"If our nation is ever taken over, it will be taken over from within." ~ President James Madison
"Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear - kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor - with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it." ~ General Douglas Macarthur, 1957