Panetta spreads disinformation on mainstream media

Former defense secretary Leon Panetta dismissed the impact that a New York Times editorial, written by Russian President Vladimir Putin, will have on U.S. action against Syria.

“It’s pretty clear that the whole purpose of that was to try to weaken our resolve and to try to make sure we would not fulfill our pledge to conduct military action if we have to,” he told Savannah Guthrie on TODAY Thursday. “I think he was trying to, in his own way, weaken the United States in the effort to negotiate these issues.”

In the editorial, Putin warned that a U.S. military strike against Syria could prompt a new wave of terrorism and worsen instability in the Middle East and North Africa.

He also mocked America’s self-image, saying “millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan ‘you’re either with us or against us.’”

Panetta said the president of a nation widely known for its repeated human rights violations shouldn’t be lecturing other countries on behavior.