The latest is former Sec. of Defense Leon Panetta, who now admits that it was a mistake to walk out of Iraq:
Pelley: Back when you watched the stars and stripes being lowered for the last time in Baghdad, were you confident in that moment that pulling out was the right thing to do?OK, so the president of the U.S. went again the "unanimous" decision of the entire national security team?
Panetta: No, I wasn't. I really thought that it was important for us to maintain a presence in Iraq.
But the elected Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki didn't want the U.S. force. As Iraq moved on, on its own, civil war broke out in Syria. The U.S. stayed largely on the sidelines but Panetta says the national security team urged the president to do more.
Panetta: The real key was how can we develop a leadership group among the opposition that would be able to take control. And my view was to have leverage to do that, we would have to provide the weapons and the training in order for them to really be willing to work with us in that effort.
Pelley: But with virtually his entire national security team unanimous on this, that's not the decision the president made.
And Sec. Panetta didn't resign? Didn't Sec. Panetta suspect that we'd be facing a crisis like this? Didn't they tell the president that?
Sec. Panetta would have done the nation, the military, and his resume a lot of good by resigning. He would have stood tall rather than look like another guy who goes along no matter where the ship is headed.
Please spare me the agonizing comments at 60 Minutes after ISIS has taken over much of Iraq and threatens the U.S.
We needed leadership from Sec. Panetta in 2011, and all we got was another bureaucrat who kept his nice job.
P.S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.
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