President Obama's Former Defense Secretaries Are Critical Of His Syria Strategy

Gates and Panetta Critical of Obama On Syria -- New York Times

President Obama’s first two defense secretaries criticized the administration’s handling of the Syrian crisis on Tuesday night, saying they would not have asked Congress to authorize the use of force and would have accelerated the shipment of weapons to Syrian rebels.

While the two former Pentagon chiefs, Robert M. Gates and Leon E. Panetta, shared skepticism over the chances of Russia’s brokering a deal to effectively neuter Syria’s chemical weapons, they disagreed over whether focused, limited military strikes would have a strategic effect.

“My bottom line is that I believe that to blow a bunch of stuff up over a couple days, to underscore or validate a point or a principle, is not a strategy,” Mr. Gates said during a forum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “If we launch a military attack, in the eyes of a lot of people we become the villain instead of Assad,” a reference to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

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More News On President Obama's Former Defense Secretaries Being Critical Of His Syria Strategy

Gates, Panetta question Obama's Syria strategy -- USA Today/AP
Former defense secretaries criticize Obama over Syria -- FOX News
Former Defense secretaries blast Obama's Syria strategy -- The Hill
Defense secretaries express doubt on Syria deal -- NECN

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Panetta threatens 'most serious sanctions' against Iran

 

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (file photo)

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/07/265346/us-threatens-iran-with-fresh-sanctions/

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has threatened Iran with new, stronger economic sanctions over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear energy program.

Speaking at a media conference in Peru on Saturday, Panetta said Washington and its allies have reached an agreement “to impose probably the most serious sanctions, economic sanctions, that have been imposed on a nation.”

He said Iran should engage with the international community to try to resolve the West's standoff with the country and address their alleged concerns or face additional sanctions.

Panetta said the US and its allies are united in their efforts to stop Tehran’s uranium enrichment activities.

Washington’s sanction threats against Tehran are escalating despite the UN warning against the humanitarian ramifications of the embargoes.

On Friday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that the West’s embargoes against Iran have significantly targeted the livelihood of the ordinary Iranian population and led to shortage of necessary items, including medicine.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

The sanctions came into force in early summer 2012.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

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