--- title: U.S. Should Have Kept Troops in Iraq: Panetta description: Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says the United States should not have completely pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011. canonical: https://time.com/3408298/us-troops-iraq-panetta/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-20T13:22:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:19:08.970Z article:section: Politics og:title: U.S. Should Have Kept Troops in Iraq: Panetta og:description: Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says the United States should not have completely pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011. og:url: https://time.com/3408298/us-troops-iraq-panetta/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7282e7b8ec7d1c13/6986a47fcd804de9bbccce25/ap111217020192.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Last U.S. Troop Brigade In Iraq Departs Country After Over Eight Years Of War og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. Should Have Kept Troops in Iraq: Panetta twitter:description: Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says the United States should not have completely pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7282e7b8ec7d1c13/6986a47fcd804de9bbccce25/ap111217020192.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former Defense Secretary: U.S. Should Have Kept Troops in Iraq by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 20, 2014 1:22 PM UTC  Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division board a C-17 transport plane to depart from Iraq at Camp Adder, now known as Imam Ali Base, on Saturday Dec. 17, 2011, near Nasiriyah, Iraq. Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division board a C-17 transport plane to depart from Iraq at Camp Adder, now known as Imam Ali Base, on Saturday Dec. 17, 2011, near Nasiriyah, Iraq.Mario Tama—AP by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Sep 20, 2014 1:22 PM UTC Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta says the United States should not have completely pulled troops out of Iraq in 2011. In an interview on CBS’s _60 Minutes_, Panetta, who was defense secretary under President Barack Obama from 2011 to 2013 after being director of the CIA from 2009 to 2011, said he disagreed with the U.S. strategy of withdrawing soldiers from Iraq. “I really thought that it was important for us to maintain a presence in Iraq,” Panetta said. Panetta also said the U.S. should have provided weapons to Syrians who opposed Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, a view opposed to that of President Obama and many high-level security officials. “I think the President’s concern, and I understand it, was that he had a fear that if we started providing weapons, we wouldn’t know where those weapons would wind up,” Panetta said. “My view was, you have to begin somewhere.” The episode of _60 Minutes_ featuring Panetta will be broadcast Sunday, 7:30 p.m. ET. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3408298/us-troops-iraq-panetta/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3408298/us-troops-iraq-panetta/"},"headline":"Former Defense Secretary: U.S. Should Have Kept Troops in Iraq","datePublished":"2014-09-20T13:22:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:19:08.970Z","description":"Panetta's expressed differences with his former boss, President Obama, in an interview with \"60 Minutes\"","url":"https://time.com/3408298/us-troops-iraq-panetta/","keywords":["Iraq","Foreign Policy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7282e7b8ec7d1c13/6986a47fcd804de9bbccce25/ap111217020192.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7282e7b8ec7d1c13/6986a47fcd804de9bbccce25/ap111217020192.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Last U.S. Troop Brigade In Iraq Departs Country After Over Eight Years Of War","caption":"The Last U.S. Troop Brigade In Iraq Departs Country After Over Eight Years Of War","creditText":"Mario Tama—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iraq/","name":"Iraq"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3408298/us-troops-iraq-panetta/","name":"Former Defense Secretary: U.S. Should Have Kept Troops in Iraq"}}]}] ```