Panetta: Obama Sent Message, ‘America Was Not Prepared to Stand By Its Word’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:

MITCHELL: "You write in 'Worthy fights' that the president vacillated by failing to respond to Assad crossing Obama's red line on chemical weapons, that this sent the wrong message to the world that there was a weakness in the United States. Is that a legitimate issue not only for President Obama, but for secretary of state, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton?"

PANETTA: "Well, I think the reality is that in dealing with these very tough issues in the Middle East, that it's not always -- it's not always easy, obviously, to come up with easy answers. But at the same time, I thought a particular concern that I had is that once the commander-in-chief draws a red line and says that we are not going to allow Syria to conduct chemical warfare, that once that line is drawn, whether you agree or disagree with that line, once it's drawn and once that line is crossed that the commander-in-chief has a responsibility to act, and I think by not acting, I think it sent the wrong kind of message to the Middle East and to both our allies and to our enemies out there that America was not prepared to stand by its word. I think that was a mistake."