Leon Panetta on Iran war: US 'in deep trouble'
By: Mira Bhakta (The Hill)
No doubt Republicans will just call Leon Panetta a 'Communist' and ignore the whole thing.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
07/24/26 -- Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States is in "deep trouble" with the Iran war, comparing it to the U.S.'s drawn-out conflict in Vietnam.
Panetta, who also led the CIA during the Obama administration, told CNN in an interview that "history tells us that forever wars do not end well," when asked which side had the upper hand in the conflict.
The former CIA chief criticized the Trump administration for the lack of a clear objective for the Iran war.
"He continues military attacks, which intelligence makes clear is not going to move Iran. And at the same time, the American people are paying a very heavy price as a result of oil prices going sky high and the cost of living increasing as much as it is," Panetta argued.
President Trump had promised the conflict would last around four to five weeks, but ithas dragged on for nearly five months.
Panetta went further to say that the outlook to end the war "does not look well" and Trump is "basically in a box right now trying to figure out if there's a way out."
Panetta's comments come even as some Republicans begin to voice concerns about the war effort. Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) said the American public is "growing weary" of the long military conflict with Iran.
"Naturally all of us are concerned because we've lost three wonderful, wonderful service people in the last little while," Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) said, referring to three U.S. service members killed in recent days.
Support for the war has also plummeted among Trump voters with nearly 1 in 5 MAGA voters saying the war should end regardless of the costs.
When asked by CNN host Brianna Keilar what the U.S. can do to restart negotiations with Iran, Panetta said, "There's only one way I've thought of to achieve any kind of leverage in dealing with Iran, and that relates to the Straits of Hormuz."
"What the United States has to do in order to get any kind of leverage here is, it has to take control of the Straits of Hormuz and be able to control the free access that is necessary in order to be able to restore our economy," he continued.
"If the president doesn't take any action to be able to take control of the Straits of Hormuz, then I think we're only left with the hope that somehow we're going to get back to a negotiating table," he concluded.
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The military is burning through munitions a hundred times faster than they can be replaced. What could possibly go wrong?
Everyone except the American people can see that the attacks on Iran has shifted toward using aircraft delivered 'glide bombs' rather than advanced stand-off missiles. There are reports that the USAF has lost as many as 50 MQ-9 Reaper drones (a third of the available aircraft) without plans to replace them . The stocks of Hellfire and JDAM missiles delivered by Reaper drones are being depleted. The aircraft carriers and aircraft operating in the Arabia Sea are taking a beating from the number of sorties being flown. (Aircraft carriers are not a replacement for hardened runways.) Stocks of Patriot, Tomahawk, and cruise missiles have been so depleted that it has become necessary to draw weapons from other regions.
Iran knows the US military is weakening because they can see the attacks. All other adversaries and power brokers can see that weakening, too. The fact that the US is licensing advanced weapon manufacture in Ukraine indicates how badly US military capability has been eroded. Even claimed allies in the Persian Gulf region see that they can press for concessions from the US.
But Leon Panetta is a Communist so we should just ignore what's happening.
It's sad that some actually believe that. I know Leon, his wife gets her hair done at a salon next to my office and I've chatted with him a few times while he waits out front with their golden retriever. He's a lovely man and extremely intelligent and has decades of foreign policy experience. Even at 88 he is 100 times more mentally competent than the buffoon in the oval office. His son is my local congressman so the best we can really do is hope for the next generation of intelligent patriotic Americans and stop voting for the braindead morons who continue to support and defend this disaster of an administration.