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We either believe in the dignity of the individual, the rule of law, and the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment, or we don't. There is no middle ground.

Leon Panetta

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Leon Panetta
Age: 86
Born: 1938
Born: June 28
Former Director Of The Central Intelligence Agency
Lawyer
Political Scientist
Politician
Monterey
California
Leon Edward Panetta
Dignity
Ground
Rule
Either
Middle
Prohibition
Law
Cruel
Individual
Unusual
Believe
Punishment

More quotes by Leon Panetta

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The terrorism from 9/11 has metastasized. It's metastasized in Iraq and Syria, in Nigeria, in Somalia, in Yemen and in other places in North Africa. We need a very comprehensive strategy to deal with that threat.
Leon Panetta
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The last thing I want to do is to make the mistakes of the past.
Leon Panetta
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Iran is isolating itself from the rest of the world.
Leon Panetta
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I think what both Republicans and Democrats need to do and the leaders on both sides is to recognize that if sequester takes place, it would be disastrous for our national defense and very frankly for a lot of very important domestic programs. They have a responsibility to come together, find the money necessary to de-trigger sequester.
Leon Panetta
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The reason we've always had a civilian in that job [Secretary of Defence] is because we really believe that it is policymakers who ought to control the military and not have the military control the military.
Leon Panetta
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Throughout the 40 years I've been in Washington, I've always worked hard, particularly with regards to the budget issues.
Leon Panetta
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I'm not big on commissions.
Leon Panetta
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The United States will do whatever we have to do to protect our forces.
Leon Panetta
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Al Qaeda still remains a threat.
Leon Panetta
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I mean, the Taliban, my view is that they have been weakened. We have not seen them able to conduct any kind of organized attack to regain any territory that they've lost. We've seen levels of violence going down.
Leon Panetta
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Clearly, Russia has lied to the world about what's going on in Ukraine. They have clearly violated the cease-fire agreements.
Leon Panetta
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Obama really does recognize the threats that are out there I think he understands the world. He understands the role of America in that troubled world.
Leon Panetta
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I suddenly realized at the CIA that I had to make life-and-death decisions about people.
Leon Panetta
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One of the principal qualities that you need as national security adviser is trust, the trust of the president. And that depends on truth and it depends on honesty.
Leon Panetta
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The 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
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I don't usually comment on columnists' ideas of what I'm thinking. That's a dangerous game to get into.
Leon Panetta
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I don't engage in hypotheticals.
Leon Panetta
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The United States has to be a leader in the world, because the problem is: If we are not leading, nobody else will.
Leon Panetta
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Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take risks and that we know that we have the support of the government and we have the support of the American people in what we're doing.
Leon Panetta
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When you're smaller and leaner, you're not going to have that large a presence throughout the world.
Leon Panetta