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Leon Panetta: Congress ‘Put A Gun To Their Heads’ By Risking Defense Cuts

I find this most interesting. First, from the outset, I never believed that the military cuts would ever happen.  And I was positive the whole Budget Super-committee I knew was pure politics devoid of substance was going to go down in flames.

In fact the whole thing was just a way to fill up Obama’s credit card with the Debt Ceiling hike. But taking into consideration Panetta’s considerable bluster in the recent speech to the Marines, I actually question myself—

Is Panetta just carrying water for Obama and Congress as planned, or is he actually taking his job seriously and challenging Congress, as well as the President on their complete lack of judgement, common sense, responsibility and duty to the Citizens and Military Members of the United States?

Well, if he is just going in to sew up the tail end of the deal as planned… which is ” Spend every penny we can, cut nothing ” He is doing an admirable job.

Now it was hard for me to believe, but he said we have been making progress in Afghanistan, and that we could not afford to throw our hard earned progress away, a good deal of which was paid for in blood. And, further, he stated that Iran is a very great problem in what we are doing.

This is what makes me question what is going on here.

If Panetta was just picking up the tail of the debt ceiling hike deal, why would he press any further than to say it would be irresponsible to arbitrarily cut the Military budget?

Many of you are much better informed about Panetta and his history, his views and positions.

At face value, his statements seem to indicate that he is actually trying to do his job. And that he understands it and is taking it seriously.

Has a single Obama appointee ever even considered doing this?

I would think that this is bordering on being an unforgivable slight against the Administration which will cause nothing but trouble.

The truth has no place in this Administration, and cannot be tolerated.  I wonder, is Panetta his own man, and headed for disaster?

I cannot tell. But Panetta is in an incredibly powerful and critical position.  At this point, given what he has said, I want to believe him because it is pure common sense.

To further confuse the issue, Obama seems to hate the military… until he wants to intervene in world affairs, at which point he will gleefully commit our troops and equipment to further his own personal agenda, and I cannot help but wonder what on earth is coming next.

I can’t tell what to make of any of this.

 

COMMENTS

  • aesthete

    He has no inherent loyalty to Obama.

    More importantly, he’s a bureaucrat. Job #1 for any bureaucrat is to 1) keep the money his department has, and 2) expand it in some way. This is especially true for State and Defense, which have been given some latitude by both parties, and thus are a bit more than the catspaw of some administration or other.

    Panetta *has* to say that the strategy in Afghanistan is paying dividends, and that every penny is needed — otherwise, he has no cause to ask for more money. If you look, there isn’t a single instance of American use of the military — Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan — that Panetta has criticized, or found futile. This makes perfect sense, under the reading that Panetta is a semi-independent bureaucrat out to keep and grow his pot of gold.

  • rick554

    Being the Proud Parent of a SOLDIER, over the last 11 years, I’ve been fortunate to spend some time with our TROOPS. I’ve always come away feeling refreshed and rejuvenated from the sense of Duty and Honor these Men and Women embody. IMHO, every American should spend some time with the TROOPS to bring a lot of things back into perspective.
    Ol’ Leon was given the job to slash the Military as far as Obama could. I’ll bet dollars to donuts he’s found Jesus wears ACU’s. Now he has doubts. He wont last long in his post, Barry will slash his job next in favor of a hack more willing to do his bidding.

  • snowshooze

    As it is in ( apparent ) opposition to the CIC… don’t you think Panetta is going a bit far with the charade???
    I liked Ricks answer on the personal level, I really did thinking Panetta might have seen the light, but that is a part of why I decided to take it to you. As a Department Head, yes I want baseline budgeting with inflation offsets and new capitol equipment allowances, but he is supposed to be doing the bidding of our fearless Leader.
    But, Obama has found the Military kinda handy at times…
    Who shall we invade next week??
    But those are darned good solid points you brought up, and they do make sense. Funny, I was not thinking in that direction.