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Former Department of Defense Chief Expects "30 Year War"

HughPickens.com writes Susan Page writes at USA Today that Leon Panetta, former head of the CIA and Secretary of the Department of Defense, says Americans should be braced for a long battle against the brutal terrorist group Islamic State that will test U.S. resolve. "I think we're looking at kind of a 30-year war," says Panetta, one that will have to extend beyond Islamic State to include emerging threats in Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere. Panetta also says that decisions made by President Obama over the past three years have made that battle more difficult — an explosive assessment by a respected policymaker of the president he served. Not pushing the Iraqi government harder to allow a residual US force to remain when troops withdrew in 2011, a deal he says could have been negotiated with more effort "created a vacuum in terms of the ability of that country to better protect itself, and it's out of that vacuum that ISIS began to breed." It is no surprise to Panetta that the assessment in his new book "Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace" is drawing White House ire. "Look, I've been a guy who's always been honest," Panetta says. "I've been honest in politics, honest with the people that I deal with. I've been a straight talker. Some people like it; some people don't like it. But I wasn't going to write a book that kind of didn't express what I thought was the case."

6 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. First to say it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now isn't that convenient to the business of war?

  2. Re:And some say Obama isn't a Republican by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Funny

    Your both wrong the democrats and the republicans are exactly the same. They are just two sides of a authoritarian expansionist kleptocratic coin.

    Well the Democrats want it to be a gay authoritarian expansionist kleptocratic coin.
    So that's a small difference.

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  3. Re:And some say Obama isn't a Republican by Tailhook · · Score: 2, Funny

    Raygun's beliefs would put him solidly a Democrat

    Yeah, I miss the days of staunchly pro-life, tax cutting, communist hating Democrats that aggressively expanded military spending during peacetime, appointed moderates like Rehnquist and Scalia, outlawed hiring of illegal immigrants and causally joked about nuking the Soviets on live radio.

    Where did those Democrats go, anyhow?

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  4. Re:And some say Obama isn't a Republican by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

    How about a Renault currency? Or a Datsun dollar?

    Kongbucks anyone?

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  5. Re:And some say Obama isn't a Republican by penix1 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well the Democrats want it to be a gay authoritarian expansionist kleptocratic coin.

    While the Republicans want it to be a wide stance authoritarian expansionist kleptocratic coin.

    Not so much of a difference to me...

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  6. Congress is the issue by Bruha · · Score: 1, Funny

    Congress or the Republican Teapublicans specifically have made our entire government look weak. Our enemies see that we can not get anything accomplished and that this congress will oppose anything the president wants to do as proof that they can act with impunity in other areas of the world. It's not just bad policy decisions by the executive branch. Also for the record Iraq would not agree to a SOF agreement which means our troops would be subject to Iraqi justice not the UCMJ and I doubt there's any president that would agree to leave our troops there with that kind of agreement hanging over their heads.