Leon Panetta is a scary, scary man

[merrily]

53. Belief in danger is not a reason to put boots on the ground.

A very strong and realistic belief that putting boots on the ground can eliminate whatever you perceive as a danger may (or may not) be a reason to kill and cripple Americans and people in other nations. But merely believing some danger exists somewhere is not a reason to put boots on the ground.

We put boots on the ground in Iraq twice before. Did that prove someone had a good faith believe that we were really in danger from Saddam? Or that Saddam was a real threat to us? Now, we've put boots on the ground in Iraq again. What does that prove and will it fix anything?

Btw, danger of what specifically, and to whom? An invasion of the US by ISIS?


As far as holding government to that standard, good luck. Ted Williams left his job twice in to fight in wars government started and his was a job where age and those years really mattered. I don't recall a lot of people in Congress leaving Congress to fight the wars they declared. And, constitutionally, Presidents are probably too old to enlist-assuming any of them would.