Biden Slams Panetta for Criticizing Obama on Iraq: ‘Give the Guy a Chance to Get Out of Office’

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hU1s1TPe3uE

Vice President Joe Biden is very displeased with his former White House colleague Leon Panetta, calling it “inappropriate” that the former defense secretary and CIA director would publicly attack the administration’s handling of Iraq while President Obama is still in office.

Panetta released a chapter from his upcoming book Worthy Fights earlier this week, condemning the Obama administration’s failure to secure an agreement that would have allowed a residual American force to remain in Iraq. 

“The White House [was] 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,” Panetta wrote, adding that he and others in the Pentagon had done their best to change the president’s mind.

At a Friday appearance at Harvard University, Biden called the former defense secretary’s criticism unfair.

“I’m finding that former administration officials, as soon as they leave, write books — which I think is inappropriate,” he said in a video broadcast on Fox News. “I’m serious. I do think it’s inappropriate. At least give the guy a chance to get out of office.”