Leon Panetta Disagrees with Susan Rice on Iraq: ‘Protect Every Possible Option’

SCHEIFFER: “The president’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice was on television this morning and she said, if I understand it, there has been no recommendation from military commanders that the United States would combat troops in Iraq. Does that sound right to you?”
PANETTA: “Well, the one thing I know about our military commanders is they are going to be looking at every possibility of how we effectively deal with ISIS. And I don’t know what recommendations they have made or not made. But I will say this. I think the president of the United States has to be open to whatever recommendations are made in order to ensure that we are effective in going after ISIS.”
SCHEIFFER: “She said flatly this morning we are not going to get involved in a ground war in Iraq. We are not going to put troops in there. Should she be ruling that out?”
PANETTA: “I always felt that the president of the United States ought to keep every option available in dealing with this kind of enemy. It doesn’t mean that we need to invade, it doesn’t mean we have to, you know, as Susan Rice said, have combat troops on the ground. But I think we want to protect every possible option because we are dealing with a very resilient enemy. And the only way you deal with a resilient enemy is with flexibility, adaptability and the kind of determination that we are going to need if we are ever going to win this war.”