New revelations about the inner workings of the U.S. government will come to light today with the launch of “Worthy Fights,” a memoir by former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.The book describes Panetta´s disagreements with President Barack Obama about foreign policy, particularly in regard to Syria and Iraq, and the budget crisis, The New York Times said today.
In recent interviews and in testimony before Congress, Panetta already mentioned many of the subjects that appear in the book.
According to The New York Times, after Panetta resigned last year as Defense Secretary, he observed with increasing worry an Obama who – as far as he was concerned – had lost his political path.
Panetta, who was also the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), felt that instead of confirming U.S. leadership on the world stage, Obama was indecisive and overly cautious.
In the book, edited by Penguin Press, Panetta describes his point of view regarding troops remaining in Iraq, financing and arms supply aid to Syrian rebels and the confrontation with the extremist Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL) group.
He also touches on critical problems within the Defense Department, including the systemic problems in veterans hospitals and in military service tours stretched to the maximum during two long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Panetta also offers his opinion on the procedures used at the prison set up within the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo.
Panetta makes it clear in the book that he disagrees with critics who question the usefulness of what he calls “unpleasant techniques,” insisting that “tough interrogations” made certain prisoners bend to the pressure of their captors and help in the understanding of Al-Qaeda, its methods, and its leadership.
The New York Times highlights that the book does not offer a substantial exploration of the intelligence failures that contributed to the failure of the Obama administration to anticipate the Arab Spring, or to understand its consequences in Egypt, Libya and Syria.
Nor is there any serious analysis of the reasons the rapid advance of the ISIL and the collapse of the Iraqi army seems to have taken the White House by surprise.
Now, at 76, Panetta said that he hopes to inspire young people with his story, and insists that he has no plans to return to any public position. (PL)