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I am loathe to criticize retired military officers just because they disagree with this administration's policies. I am open to the idea that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake (the Bush as war criminal nonsense, of which I have personal first hand contact with those who espouse it, I reject wholly). However, I heard Hugh Hewitt’s interview with Odom at the time it was aired, and I was astonished at his lack of knowledge of the history of the Middle East and the jihadist movement. I do not find Odom’s opinions credible.

Thanks for the link to the transcript. I listened to the 15 Feb 07 interview.
http://www.townhall.com/Talkradio/Show.aspx?RadioShowID=5&page=7
He is a smart man, as is Hugh Hewitt, so it is fun to listen to them. General Odom seems to be a foolish liberal who thinks we cause all our problems. Jimmy Carter was the President who consistently according to General Odom’s views. Here are a few selections from the transcript.

WO: We cannot stabilize the whole region by ourselves. We’re going to need really important allies, not just our allies that we’ve bought to come in there with us for the invasion. And we’re going to need them both on the borders of Iraq, and we’re going to need Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese and others to help us.

HH: How quickly do you want us

WO: They will, I think, begin to respond to us once we get out. They will not as long as we’re still there.

Talk about dreaming. We leave. The Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Japanese and others will solve the problem?

HH: Did you predict or see coming the Cambodian holocaust after our withdrawal from Southeast Asia?

WO: That would have happened if we’d stayed.

HH: But did you predict it?

WO: We didn’t…we were not in Cambodia.

HH: But did you…

WO: We [helped] perpetrate that.

Say what?

HH: I’m asking whether or not you thought the Libyan disarmament had anything to do with our invasion of Iraq?

WO: None.

HH: And do you believe that the Oil For Food scandal would have been detected if we’d left Saddam in power?

WO: Look, we would have been less worse off, much better off, had the food scandal gone on, and Saddam were still there.