A high attrition rate is generally viewed in business as a symptom of an organization in crisis. The Obama administration has had a pretty high attrition rate, seeming to hit a record high in 2010 with the departure of most of his economic advisors as well as Rahm Emanuel. The stunning trend that we have seen with this administration though is the number of tell all books published in the wake of high level cabinet members departures. Ex-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have both written books that criticize the current leader of the free world, and now you can add to that a book by ex-Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Now, as someone who remembers Mr. Panetta fondly from his days as a state representative in the Central Coast region of California, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for him. For years though, I feared that living in Washington DC had finally stripped him of his very soul. With the release of his book, I can see the “old” Panetta is still very much alive and well-and so is his integrity.

He blasts his former boss in the book over his lack of political savvy and just pure common sense by saying that Obama basically blew the possibility of negiotiating a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) on out way out of Iraq in August of 2010.

In a Washington Post article published on Thursday, October 2nd they quoted a passage from Panetta’s book explaining how Obama blew the chance to have a SOFA:

 “When President Obama announced the end of our combat mission in August 2010, he acknowledged that we would maintain troops for a while. Now that the deadline was upon us, however, it was clear to me — and many others — that withdrawing all our forces would endanger the fragile stability then barely holding Iraq together.”

In other words, Obama lied-again. Both Panetta and his Under Secretary for Defense argued that the maintenance of American troops in Iraq was essential for the stability of the country in the coming years but to no avail.

“Flournoy argued our case, and those on our side viewed the White House as so eager to rid itself of Iraq that it was willing to withdraw rather than lock in arrangements that would preserve our influence and interests.

We debated with al-Maliki even as we debated among ourselves, with time running out. The clock wound down in December, and Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter continued to argue our case, extending the deadline for the Iraqis to act, hoping that we might pull out a last-minute agreement and recognizing that once our forces left, it would be essentially impossible for them to turn around and return. To my frustration, the White House coordinated the negotiations but never really led them. Officials there seemed content to endorse an agreement if State and Defense could reach one, but without the President’s active advocacy, al-Maliki was allowed to slip away. The deal never materialized. To this day, I believe that a small U.S. troop presence in Iraq could have effectively advised the Iraqi military on how to deal with al-Qaeda’s resurgence and the sectarian violence that has engulfed the country.”

Could keeping a contingent of US troops in country have squelched the ISIS storm that was gathering two years ago? Perhaps, but since Obama had to have his way like other petulant children, countless women and children have perished at the hands of monsters who are bent on ruling the world. The one good thing that has come out of all of this is that now people will know the truth-and perhaps a good man can go on living with a clean conscience knowing he tried to do the right thing.