Et Tu Leon?

Another day, another "insider" memoir questioning President Obama's handling of the Bush-Cheney Middle East Morass.

This time it's from Leon Panetta, former CIA chief, former Secretary of Defense, ongoing Clinton family apologist.

Panetta's main criticisms of Obama are these:

A) He didn't argue hard enough for US troops to remain in Iraq. You remember Iraq, don't you? That war that Bush-Cheney lied us into? That multi-trillion dollar dark hole that Hillary Clinton voted for? Yeah, that Iraq. First of all, Bush negotiated the SOFA troop withdrawal--not Obama. Secondly, the government of Iraq didn't want us to leave troops there. Thirdly, the American people were and are sick and tired of that pointless (unless you're Halliburton or Blackwater or a card carrying member of the Military-Industrial Complex) war.

B) He did not arm the Syrian rebels fast enough. Hillary and Leon urged that we arm them in 2012. Of course, even at this late date, no one is really sure which--if any--of the Syrian rebel factions we can trust. For instance, the Syrian rebels included ISIS/ISIL. If we had guessed wrong 2 years ago, and a guess was all it would have been, they'd have even more American weapons than they have now. This would be very good for American arms manufacturers, but perhaps not so good for the security of the region.

C) He should have worked harder to reach compromises with the Congress. (At this point, feel free to give out a long, disgusted sigh).

Apparently Panetta is from the delusional Beltway school that believes that if only Obama had been nicer to the Republicans things would have been different. Played more golf with them, shared a bottle with Boehner now and then, taken Gohmert to the circus. You know, Beltway stuff. If only he had tried a little harder--like Clinton would.

And if only the Jews had been nicer to Hitler things would have been different. You know, invited him to sit Seder or sent him some rugelach for his birthday.

Let's set aside that the entire project of the Republican Party--since before Obama's first inauguration--has been to thwart whatever he proposed. Even those things that were initially Republican proposals. The Republican idea of compromise during the Obama years has always been "do exactly what we want--or we will shut down the government."

Despite what you might hear on Fox News, Iraq is a dangerous bloody mess because Bush-Cheney and their merry band of neo-cons, of which Hillary Clinton is an honorary member, wanted to a) show Poppy Bush how it should've been done; b) get their hands on all that oil; c) help "protect" Israel; d) all of the above. As far as I'm concerned, all the shit since then is on them.

At this point, Leon Panetta is just another Clinton family shill. His every utterance from here on out will be in service of getting Hillary elected and polishing Bill's legacy.