A new Homeland Security approach for safeguarding Americans

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http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/08/08/a-new-homeland-security -approach-for-safeguarding-americans/

A new US Homeland Security approach for safeguarding Americans



1) A new Homeland Security approach for safeguarding Americans (6 August 2009)
2) UK Minister: Our Troops in Afghanistan Are Fighting to Keep Us Safe From Terrorism (4 August 2009)

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http://csis.org/files/attachments/090806_brennan_transcript.pdf

excerpts from: “A new approach for safeguarding Americans”

Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) web site, 6 August 2009



President Obama is under no illusions about the imminence and severity of this threat. Indeed, he has repeatedly and forcefully challenged those who suggest that this threat has passed.

To Americans who ask why our forces still fight and die in Afghanistan, he has made it clear that al-Qaida is actively plotting to attack us again and that he will not tolerate Afghanistan or any other country being a base for terrorists determined to kill Americans. [...]

[President Obama] is confronting what he has identified as the most immediate and extreme threat to global security – the possibility that terrorists will obtain and use a nuclear weapon. [...]

Our homeland security efforts include working aggressively to prevent and prepare for bioterrorism […] And I would note that our coordinated response to the H1N1 virus […] and our extensive preparations for the coming flu season, will ensure that we are better prepared for any future bioterrorist attack. […]

[T]his administration will do everything in our power to keep the American people safe, with certainty that we can defeat al-Qaida.

[Assistant to the US President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John Brennan, “Protecting the American People from Terrorism and Violent Extremism” speech, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 6 August 2009]

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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/bill-rammell-our-tro ops-in-afghanistan-are-fighting-to-keep-us-safe-from-terrorism-1766968 .html

excerpts from: Our Troops in Afghanistan Are Fighting to Keep Us Safe From Terrorism

by Bill Rammell, The Independent, 4 August 2009



Our troops are in Afghanistan to keep our country safe from the threat of terrorism. To prevent al-Qa’ida having a secure base from which to threaten us directly. But this is not just about the UK’s national security. Forty-two nations are taking part – one of the widest ever international coalitions. It is about their national security too.

Let us not forget the threat posed by Taliban rule in Afghanistan before 2001. It was there that the horrors of 9/11 were planned. It was there that recruits were trained in the methods of terrorism. It was there that al-Qa’ida leaders were planning and directing further major terrorist operations which would, no doubt, have been aimed at the UK and others. [...]

So our ultimate objective in 2001 holds true for 2009: to protect our citizens from terrorist attacks by preventing al-Qa’ida having a safe haven in the tribal belt whether it be in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

[UK Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell, speech at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), 3 August 2009]

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from the archives:


UK government: Terror threat lowest level since 7/7 bombings (20 July 2009)

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/07/21/uk-government-terror-th reat-lowest-level-since-july-2005-bombings/



Obama: Our central mission in Afghanistan is to prevent another al Qaeda attack on the U.S. homeland (22 March 2009)

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/03/23/obama-our-central-missi on-in-afghanistan-is-to-prevent-another-al-qaeda-attack-on-the-us-home land-videos/

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