DAILY BEAST
by Josh Rogin
October 2, 2014

In a forthcoming book, obtained by The Daily Beast, former spy director and Pentagon leader Leon Panetta blames the White House for screwups from Syria to Afghanistan.

The president’s White House staff was controlling, insular, and often ignored the advice of its senior national security officials, former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta charges in his yet-to-be-released memoir. The result, Panetta says: botched U.S. policies from Syria to Iraq to Afghanistan. Panetta—whose new book, Worthy Fights, is set to be released Oct. 7—is particularly tough on his former boss on the issue of Syria. (A copy of the book was obtained by The Daily Beast.) President Obama had called the use of chemical weapons there a “red line.” So when the Syrian military used chemical weapons in August 2013 to kill an estimated 1,400 people, Obama decided to strike. But then the president abruptly reversed himself—without consulting his national security Cabinet members…..

……As recounted in a book excerpt in Time, Panetta believed the White House didn’t want to keep troops in Iraq after 2011 and didn’t support Pentagon and State Department efforts to negotiate a follow-up Status of Forces Agreement with the Iraqi government. “I privately and publicly advocated for a residual force that could provide training and security for Iraq’s military,” Panetta wrote. “But the President’s team at the White House pushed back, and the differences occasionally became heated. [Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michelle] Flournoy argued our case, 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.”

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