What do you make of Leon Panetta's comments on Barack Obama's leadership?

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So, Leon Panetta now thinks that a "30 years war" is something to be modeled?  Well, in terms of his criticisms, there is freedom of speech in the U.S., so he can say and write whatever he wants whenever he wants--doesn't bother me.  I'd fully agree that Obama has "lost his way" on this matter--but in the opposite direction that Penetta indicates.  

Is there any scale that can accurately measure the terrible learning curve the U.S. political leadership has?  We go to Iraq to remove someone we think a terrible leader and a threat (even though he wasn't threatening us at the time); we spend about a decade there with relatively penny ante forces, who we put in maximum danger there by not sending enough support, and go broke in the process to boot; we lend support to the wrong political factions who suppresses large portions of the populous when they govern; by the time we leave, we end up with a worse bunch threatening to take over the place than the guy we went to get rid of.  And the solution now, supposedly, is to do more penny ante bombing and throw in our lot with factions that, both short-term and long-term, both hate one another and have dubious motives?  At almost every single step in this incredibly sad process, we made things worse--and now we're going to poison the present and future some more?  Panetta wants leadership?  Ok, how about this?  In this kind of situation, if you go in, you go in with everything.  If you're not willing to do that, then stay out of it and force the players in the region to step up and sort it out.  I'm very sorry that there are lots of innocent victims in the region who are vulnerable to the huge variety of beasts running amok there, I really am.  But going about things in the way we have been is only making it worse.  Real leaders don't make things worse just so they can look tough--while they're losing.