Dear
All,
Obama’s
former Director of CIA and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta continues to severely bash
the presidents feckless foreign policy. I can’t ever remember witnessing so
many former high level administrative members of a presidents administration and
cabinet speaking out so strongly against a sitting president; with more
than two years left in office.
Just
so you know, this is not partisan what-so-ever as Mr. Panetta
served President Bill Clinton as his Chief of Staff, was elected to the House of
Representatives for California’s District 17 and District 16 as a Democrat and
has been a Democrat since 1971. As a Democrat he was re-elected to the House of
Representatives for 9 terms.
With
this information, we can “trust” that Mr. Panetta is speaking from his heart and
long time experience in serving our government when regarding his criticism of
President Obama’s reckless and feckless leadership on America’s foreign policy;
and I might add, his drug policy...........or any other policy for that
matter.
Ron
Kirkish
Published October 03, 2014 -
FoxNews.com
The Obama
administration found itself on defense Friday after former Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta criticized the White House for its policies on Iraq, with the State
Department and others publicly disputing his claims.
Panetta
chided the president's team in his forthcoming memoir, excerpts of which have
been published in the media.
He alleges
the White House didn't try hard enough to strike a deal with Iraq in 2011 to
leave a residual force of U.S. troops behind, in turn opening the door for the
region to become a haven for the Islamic State.
In newly
published excerpts, he also criticized the administration over its policies
toward Syria.
But speaking
with Fox News on Friday, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki claimed Iraqi
officials simply did not want U.S. troops to remain after 2011 and no amount of
extra prodding by the White House could have made the difference.
"It wouldn't
have changed the circumstance we're in today," she said.
"It would not
have mattered. They did not want to have troops in Iraq."
Vice
President Biden also appeared to take a swipe at the book during a talk Thursday
at Harvard Kennedy School.
"I'm finding
that former administration officials as soon as they leave write books, which I
think is inappropriate," Biden said, to laughter.
"No I'm
serious -- I do think it's inappropriate. At least, you know, give the guy a
chance to get out of office."
Despite
Psaki's comments, Panetta was adamant in his book that there was an opportunity
to strike a deal with the Iraqis that could have kept U.S. troops in the
country.
He claimed
Iraqi leaders privately wanted some U.S. forces to stay behind, though they
would not say so publicly.
"But," he
wrote, "the President's team at the White House pushed back, and the differences
occasionally became heated. ... and those on our side viewed the White House as
so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock
in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests."
He said the
negotiations with then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki went down to the wire in
December 2011, but the White House never stepped up.
"To my frustration, the White
House coordinated the negotiations but never really led them," Panetta charged,
in excerpts published by Time.
On Fox News,
Psaki suggested that such a small residual force might not have made much
difference anyway.
She also
repeated the claim -- disputed by many Republicans in Congress -- that few
anticipated the security situation would deteriorate so badly.
"No one
anticipated that the Iraqi security forces would have been unwilling to fight,"
she said. "Nobody anticipated that ISIL would be as strong."
The Daily Beast published
additional excerpts of the memoir on Friday in which
Panetta criticized the president for striking an agreement to shelve attacks on
the Assad regime in exchange for him turning over chemical weapons -- after
Obama drew a "red line" on their use that Assad allegedly crossed.
"The result,
I felt, was a blow to American credibility. When the president as commander in
chief draws a red line, it is critical that he act if the line is crossed,"
Panetta wrote.
He criticized
what he saw as "hesitation and half steps" in dealing with Syrian rebels.
Panetta, who
worked in top positions in the Clinton White House, also described the Obama
administration as far different in the way it operates.
"Far more
than in previous administrations that I'd witnessed-certainly more than in
Clinton's when I'd been near the center of the action-President Obama's
decision-making apparatus was centralized in the White House," he reportedly
wrote.
Panetta also
said he opposed the controversial trade of American soldier Bowe Bergdahl for
five Taliban commanders at Guantanamo Bay.
He said he
did not believe the Taliban were "sincere" about reconciling with the Afghan
government and, "I did not believe it was fair to trade five for one."
Panetta was
director of the CIA from 2009-2011, and secretary of Defense from 2011-2013.
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