You know, as director of the CIA, I got an awful lot of intelligence about all the horrible things that could go on across the world.
— Leon Panetta
Winning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.
The United States, and the president's made this clear, does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That's a red line for us. And it's a red line obviously for the Israelis so we share a common goal here.
The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.
There's no question that the main location of Al Qaida is in tribal areas of Pakistan.
Go forward, knowing that you are greater than the challenges of your time.
Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take risks and that we know that we have the support of the government and we have the support of the American people in what we're doing.
The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.
If the Iraqis fail to implement the reforms, if they fail to get a handle on the violence, there's nothing the United States can do, militarily or otherwise, that can solve those problems. They have to assume the primary responsibility to govern themselves.
