Leon Panetta: I Worry About Trump Announcing Total Withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraq When We’re in a Middle of a War with Iran

EXCERPT:

PANETTA: “Well, again, I worry about this kind of decision when we’re still in the middle of a war with Iran. And the fact is that these militias have conducted, I think, something like 600 attacks on U.S. Military. They’re supported by Iran. They’re armed by Iran. And what I worry about with this decision is that we are handing Iraq over to Iran at a time when we’re still trying to figure out what’s going to happen with this war with Iran. I just don’t see the reasoning behind withdrawing our forces at a time when we need to defend a lot of our forces throughout that region who have been under serious attack. You know, we’ve had almost something like $4 billion worth of damage to our bases throughout that area. And now, if you allow these militant groups supported by Iran not to have to be in any way checked by the U.S. forces that were there as they were, I think you’re just going to add that much more to a forever war that we seem to be stuck in.”