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Home Front: WoT
Panetta: US may have to use military force against Iran
2013-11-03
NEW YORK -- While the US has "implemented unprecedented sanctions and pressure on Iran, we may very well have to use military force to back up our policy," Leon Panetta said on Thursday night. The former US defense secretary and CIA director made the remarks while addressing around 600 people at the Anti-Defamation League's 100th annual meeting.
He's one of the few adults in the Obama administration...
Was. It's Hagel, the third smartest man in the room, who's got the job now.
Panetta, who was receiving the ADL's William and Naomi Gorowitz Institute Service Award, said the US needs to "maintain a healthy skepticism" when negotiating to suss out Iran's true level of commitment to negotiations over its nuclear program.

"It is the Supreme Leader [Ali Khamenei] who is key, and he is not likely to give up [uranium] enrichment," Panetta warned. "We have to remain strong. We have to remain consistent."

Panetta reiterated the American line that the US has "no friend, no better ally in the world than Israel," but he expressed concern over the "growing sense of isolationism in this country [the US]" over the last 10 years of fighting two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the shifting power dynamics among world leaders.
Much of that isolationism fueled by the progressive left, and some by conservatives who see ungrateful Iraqis and Afghanis...
"The fact remains that we live in a very dangerous world," he said. "We continue to have threats from North Korea as they test nuclear weapons. We have instability and fragility in the Middle East. All of this happens at a time when we are imperiled by gridlock in Washington."

Panetta was introduced by current Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who expressed his admiration for his predecessor, and similarly indicated his support for maintaining a firm hand with Tehran, while at the same exploring diplomatic options.

"We are testing Iranian intentions for diplomatic solutions," Hagel said. "When we engage Iran along with our partners, we are clear-eyed about the reality in the Middle East. Iran is a state sponsor of terror... but foreign policy is not a zero-sum game."

Hagel advocated for exploring more ways to resolve disputes, and tried to soothe audience members concerned that diplomacy would lead nowhere.

"Engagement is not appeasement, nor is it containment," he said. "We know what those are, we know where they lead, and we will not pursue them. And President Obama has repeatedly made clear that words are not enough. Action must match words."

Hagel announced that the US would be selling Israel six V-22 Osprey tiltrotor helicopters, and that he recognized the "challenges" on Israel's borders given the crises in Egypt and Syria. "There are no margins for Israel," Hagel said.

The other headliner of the first day of the meeting was UN Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who received a gift from ADL National Director Abe Foxman -- a book with the word "Jew" written in it six million times, as a tribute to her work in the field of genocide, Foxman said.
One can recognize and applaud her desire to stamp out genocide, but she has a funny way of going about it by enfeebling the United States at a time when it is one of the few bulwarks against new genocides...
The book sounds like awfully dull reading, though perhaps Mr. Foxman meant it as a gentle hint of some sort.
She addressed the collaboration between the US and Israeli missions at the UN, and vowed to continue working to expand Israel's role.

"I have made it a priority... to oppose every example of anti-Israeli bias in the UN system," Power said. "On my watch, we will push ceaselessly for the further inclusion of Israel in regional groups. We will demand objectivity in resolutions affecting Middle East peace.... There is no basis to exclude Israel from full participation in the United Nations system."
Posted by:Steve White

#12  Except for the 'old lady' comment, I pretty much agree with ST4064; this time anyway.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2013-11-03 19:12  

#11  Just trying to con calm down these crazy Jews.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-11-03 15:20  

#10  Margret Thatcher is not amused.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2013-11-03 14:50  

#9  Leon Panetta is an old lady.
Spereting Tingle

Disparaging "old ladies"....bad form Tingle ;-)
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-11-03 14:08  

#8  a book with the word "Jew" written in it six million times, as a tribute to her work in the field of genocide

Sounds like more of a reminder than a tribute.

As for Panetta, inquiring minds ask: why is *he* sending up this trial balloon *now*?
Posted by: SteveS   2013-11-03 12:59  

#7  ...coming from Caspar W. Weinberger, the words would mean something. Panetta, not so much...
Posted by: Uncle Phester   2013-11-03 12:47  

#6  Can you ever see Obama fighting for anything for any reason?

His own life, maybe, if he can't run and hide, not mochelles or others, if NO Marines are available, no Army either.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2013-11-03 11:10  

#5  Can you ever see Obama fighting for anything for any reason?

The Pentagon won't go anywhere as long as Prance is Prez.

The Pentagon all sit around and shine their shoes and Obama has fired 9 top Generals in the past couple of months for laughing at him.

Leon Panetta is an old lady. No one is going to attack Iran. The Iranians probably already have an atomic and all the entire West ever did was wank and waddle like a EUroweenie.

Too wussie and what's the soup du jour in the Pentagon restaurant this wednesday? Chicken soup. No, the Pentagon and Intell can only produce men like Petraeus . And he was standing tall in his underwear with some Bimbo after ten.
Posted by: Spereting Tingle4064   2013-11-03 09:15  

#4  I'm sure that after the Syrian farce the Iranians are just shaking in their shoes....Oh no, that shaking with laughter.
Posted by: AlanC   2013-11-03 08:30  

#3  May but won't
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2013-11-03 07:25  

#2  Samantha Power is no friend of Israel. She's part and parcel of the Obama "brain trust" that gave us the Arab Spring. Shanty trash
Posted by: Frank G   2013-11-03 07:07  

#1  He's one of the few adults in the Obama administration...

I beg your pardon. Please don't be fooled by old age and a wrinkled snarl. This bastid and his Klingon sidekick Bremnan were at the center of everything that happened in Benghazi, and neither have offered any explanation.
Posted by: Besoeker   2013-11-03 04:51  

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