Leon Panetta - U.S.-Iraq ProCon.org

"FACT: The Iraq War has turned into a deadly quagmire that is killing Americans on an average of two a day and there is no clearly defined mission about the length and level of commitment, the cost or the future of U.S. involvement.

Both say they would still have gone to war in Iraq even knowing all of the terrible intelligence failures confirmed by the September 11th Commission. Nonsense. Does anyone really believe that we would have charged into war knowing that there were absolutely no weapons of mass destruction and no ties to al Quaeda; that we would have spent $200 billion and nearly a thousand of our most precious American lives just because Saddam Hussein was a bad dictator … something that happens to be true about most dictators in the world."

"The Price Of Truth"
The Monterey County Herald, September 12, 2004

Name:	Leon E. Panetta, J.D.
Title:	Member, Iraq Study Group Institute Director, Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy
Position:	Con to the question "Should the U.S. have attacked Iraq?"
Reasoning:	"FACT: The Iraq War has turned into a deadly quagmire that is killing Americans on an average of two a day and there is no clearly defined mission about the length and level of commitment, the cost or the future of U.S. involvement. Both say they would still have gone to war in Iraq even knowing all of the terrible intelligence failures confirmed by the September 11th Commission. Nonsense. Does anyone really believe that we would have charged into war knowing that there were absolutely no weapons of mass destruction and no ties to al Quaeda; that we would have spent $200 billion and nearly a thousand of our most precious American lives just because Saddam Hussein was a bad dictator … something that happens to be true about most dictators in the world." "The Price Of Truth" The Monterey County Herald, September 12, 2004
Credibility/ Ranking:	Expert/VIP PhD's, JD's (lawyers), Judges, Members of Congress, Ambassadors, Council Generals, heads of government, members of legislative bodies with significant involvement in, or related to, the US-Iraq conflict.
Involvement:	Member, Iraq Study Group Institute Director, Leon & Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy 1994-1997 - Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton 1993 - Director, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 1989-1993 - Chairman, House Committee on the Budget 1977-1993 - U.S. Representative, California's 16th (now 17th) District Chairman, Agriculture Committee's Subcommittee on Domestic Marketing, Consumer Relations, and Nutrition Chairman, Administration Committee's Subcommittee on Personnel and Police Chairman, Task Force on Domestic Hunger created by the U.S. House Select Committee on Hunger
Education:	J.D. Santa Clara University Law School, 1960 B.A., Santa Clara University, 1963
Relevant Affiliations:	Member, Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future Co-Chair of the Council on Base Support and Retention Member, Board of Directors, New York Stock Exchange Commissionor, Pew Oceans Commission Member, Board of Directors, Bread for the World Member, Board of Directors, National Marine Sanctuary Foundation
Contact Info:	Phone: 831-582-4200, Main Office FAX: 831-582-4082, Main Office E-Mail: info@PanettaInstitute.org Web Site: Panetta Institute profile
Other:	Authored and introduced the 1989 Fair Employment Practices Resolution Authored and introduced the 1988 Hunger Prevention Act Select Publications: Restoring America's Future: Preparing the Nation for the 21st Century. A Report, Congress of the U.S., Washington, D.C., Senate Committee on the Budget, 1991 Bring Us Together: The Nixon Team and The Civil Rights Retreat (with co-author Peter Gall), Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1971