Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is the latest ex-Cabinet official in the Obama administration to publicly come out against President Barack Obama 's handling of Syria and Iraq . In an interview on CBS News ' `` 60 Minutes '' that aired Sunday evening , Panetta told Scott Pelley that he `` really thought that it was important for us to maintain a presence in Iraq . '' The United States withdrew its last combat troops from Iraq in 2011 after an agreement could not be reached with Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki about residual U.S. troops . Panetta also said that the President should have been more aggressive in aiding Syrian opposition fighters two years ago . He said that would have hindered ISIS ' rapid expansion of its reach and deadly influence . `` The real key was , how can we develop a leadership group among the opposition that would be able to take control ? And my view was to have leverage to do that , we would have to provide the weapons and the training in order for them to really be willing to work with us in that effort , '' he said . Obama insists that arming the rebels sooner would n't have helped stop the rise of ISIS . But he now says arming rebels fighting the terror group is a good idea . Congress last week approved his request to provide anti-ISIS Syrian rebels with weapons . This is the second time in a week that Panetta has criticized the President 's handling of the latest foreign policy crisis , and he 's the second of Obama 's two former defense secretaries to publicly split with Obama after leaving the post . Robert Gates , Obama 's first defense secretary , who also served under President George W. Bush , has criticized Obama for his handling of Syria . Last week at a forum in Dallas , which Panetta also attended , Gates said , `` My bottom line is , I believe to blow a bunch of stuff up over a couple of days to underscore or validate a point or a principle is not a strategy . '' Gates , a Republican , has not been shy about airing his disagreement with Obama 's policies . He gave a harsh critique in his memoir of the President 's handling of Afghanistan , and in a Washington Post interview in June , Gates said the Obama administration is to blame for `` a bit of neglect of Iraq after U.S. troops left . '' Panetta is close with former President Bill Clinton and his wife , former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton . Long before he worked in the Obama administration as CIA director and then defense secretary , he served as Bill Clinton 's chief of staff in 1994 . Over the weekend , Bill Clinton said on CNN 's `` Fareed Zakaria GPS '' that he `` supported two years ago '' his wife 's proposal `` to give more robust armed support to the Syrians . '' Hillary Clinton is considering a presidential run in 2016 and has tried to distance herself from Obama 's foreign policy .
Obama 's former defense secretary splits with the President on Iraq and Syria . Panetta is the second former Obama defense secretary to publicly criticize the President 's foreign policy . Bill Clinton says he agreed with Hillary Clinton that Syrian rebels should have been armed sooner .