Was Defense Secretary Panetta Right When He Said The U.S. Is In Iraq Because Of 9/11?

BAGHDAD AIRPORT - U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Anthony J. Rock accompanies U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta at Baghdad International Airport before the secretary departs for Erbil, Iraq, to meet with Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani, July 12, 2011. Rock is director of the Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission Air Force, U.S. Forces Iraq. DOD photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jacob N. Bailey

Panetta's Freudian Slip -- Fouad Ajami, The Daily Beast

When the Defense Secretary said the U.S. is in Iraq because of 9/11, his handlers launched into spin mode—but Fouad Ajami says he wasn't all wrong.

Michael Kinsley once memorably defined a Washington gaffe as a politician caught telling the truth.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has come forth with an illuminating gaffe. On his first visit to Baghdad, speaking to American troops at Camp Victory, Panetta told them that “the reason you guys are here is because on 9/11 the United States got attacked, and 3,000—not just Americans, but 3,000 human beings— got killed, innocent human beings, because of al Qaeda.”

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My Comment: I have never been a fan of interventionism, and the invasion of Iraq was definitely not on my "to do" list. But invade we did .... so we had to then fight the fight and to make sure that we win. Since then .... conventional wisdom and the political environment has changed when it comes to conducting wars like Iraq.

That is why Panetta's remarks are surprising .... but also very revealing. He is very careful with what he says, but his comments do reflect what many Americans felt in 2003-2004, and what many in our political elite still believed in today .... but unlike Panetta's slip ..... rarely talked about or discussed. Fouad Ajami is onto something, and his analysis in this post is a must read.