The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will.
Leon PanettaWinning in Afghanistan is having a country that is stable enough to ensure that there is no safe haven for Al Qaida or for a militant Taliban that welcomes Al Qaida. That's really the measure of success for the United States.
Leon PanettaI suddenly realized at the CIA that I had to make life-and-death decisions about people.
Leon PanettaThe most important thing we can do is prosecute the offenders, deal with those that have broken the law and committed this crime. And if we can do that then we can begin to deal with this issue and send a signal this is not a problem that we are going to ignore in the United States military.
Leon Panetta