Campaign Statements — War on Terror

Monday October 22, 2012

“We’re going to be finished by 2014”

“Well, we’re going to be finished by 2014, and when I’m president, we’ll make sure we bring our troops out by the end of 2014. The commanders and the generals there are on track to do so.”

CATEGORIES: Mitt Romney | War on Terror |

Monday October 22, 2012

“Because we ended the war in Iraq, we were able to refocus our attention”

Because we ended the war in Iraq, we were able to refocus our attention on not only the terrorist threat, but also beginning a transition process in Afghanistan.
It also allowed us to refocus on alliances and relationships that had been neglected for a decade.
And Governor Romney, our alliances have never been stronger, in Asia, in Europe, in Africa, with Israel, where we have unprecedented military and intelligence cooperation, including dealing with the Iranian threat.

CATEGORIES: Barack Obama | Iran | Iraq | War on Terror |

Monday October 15, 2012

“I will pursue a real and successful transition”

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CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Mitt Romney | War on Terror |

Monday October 15, 2012

“We must all unequivocally oppose the kind of senseless violence”

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CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Barack Obama | War on Terror |

Sunday May 27, 2012

Panetta: “Frankly, the only way to get this accomplished…is to be able to set…timelines.”

“You know, I think without getting into the campaign rhetoric of what [Romney’s] asserting, I think you’ve got 50 nations in NATO that agree to a plan in Afghanistan. It’s the Lisbon agreement, an agreement that, you know, others, President Bush, President Obama, everyone has agreed is the direction that we go in in Afghanistan.

What is that direction? It’s to take us to a point where we draw down by the end of 2014. That is the plan that has been agreed to. And it’s a plan that is working.

And very frankly, the only way to get this accomplished in terms of the transition that we have to go through is to be able to set the kind of timelines that have been set here in order to ensure that we fulfill the mission of an Afghanistan that governs and secures itself. That’s what this is about.”

-Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary

CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |

Sunday May 27, 2012

Panetta: “We’re not going anyplace.”

“Well the most important point is that we’re not going anyplace. We’re gonna, we have an enduring presence that will be in Afghanistan. We’ll continue to work with them on counterterrorism. We’ll continue to provide training, assistance, guidance. We’ll continue to provide support.

We are making good progress. I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened. We have not seen them able to conduct any kind of organized attack to regain any territory that they’ve lost. We’ve seen levels of violence going down. We’ve seen an Afghan army that is much more capable at providing security. We’ve seen transitions take place where we’re beginning to transition. Now we’re at about 50 percent of their population that’s been transitioned to their control.”

- Leon Panetta, Defense Secretary

CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |

Saturday May 26, 2012

Biden: “There is almost nothing we cannot accomplish when NATO and our partners act decisively.”

“We are revitalizing America’s alliances, and particularly NATO, the greatest military alliance the world has ever known because—because, as the President has rightly said, Europe is the cornerstone of our engagement with the world.

We learned during the Libya campaign, which saved thousands of innocents and helped topple a murderous dictator, that there is almost nothing we cannot accomplish when NATO and our partners act decisively, and when we actually share the burden of the responsibility.”

- Joseph Biden, Vice President

CATEGORIES: The Arab Spring | Barack Obama | War on Terror |

Saturday May 26, 2012

Biden: “We are now able to begin to focus our attention and resources on other regions, challenges.”

“When President Obama and I came to office, we were convinced that our nation had reached a strategic turning point, requiring us to rebalance our foreign policy. While we will maintain a substantial, vigilant presence in the Middle East—and partners with the Afghanis—that will outlast our combat mission, we are now able to begin to focus our attention and resources on other regions and other challenges that will be incredibly critical to our nation’s future in the 21st century.”

- Joseph Biden, Vice President

CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |

Saturday May 26, 2012

Biden: “If you harm America, we will follow you to the end of the Earth.”

“In Afghanistan, President Obama laid out a clear strategy. Our commanders refocused and redoubled their efforts on disrupting, dismantling and ultimately destroying—defeating al Qaeda, reversing the Taliban’s momentum and training the Afghan Security Forces to prevent extremists from gaining ground. Since then, you have taken out more than half of al Qaeda’s senior leadership.

And in a mission that will go down in the annals of intelligence and special operations, some of America’s most gifted security professionals tracked down Osama bin Laden—after the trail had gone cold. And in one of the most incredibly daring raids, they delivered justice to the architect of a harmful ideology—a hateful ideology with no place in the modern world and the man responsible for the deaths of almost 3,000 innocents on our soil. They got him.

And in the process, those warriors sent a message to the world that if you harm America, we will follow you to the end of the Earth.”

- Joseph Biden, Vice President

CATEGORIES: Afghanistan | Barack Obama | War on Terror |