Posted on 06/03/2007 2:17:04 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
US can forget about winning in Iraq: top retired general Jun 3 04:29 PM US/Eastern The man who commanded US-led coalition forces during the first year of the Iraq war says the United States can forget about winning the war.
"I think if we do the right things politically and economically with the right Iraqi leadership we could still salvage at least a stalemate, if you will -- not a stalemate but at least stave off defeat," retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said in an interview.
Sanchez, in his first interview since he retired last year, is the highest-ranking former military leader yet to suggest the Bush administration has fallen short in Iraq.
"I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time," Sanchez told AFP after a recent speech in San Antonio, Texas.
"We've got to do whatever we can to help the next generation of leaders do better than we have done over the past five years, better than what this cohort of political and military leaders have done," adding that he was "referring to our national political leadership in its entirety" - not just President George W. Bush.
Sanchez called the situation in Iraq bleak, which he blamed on "the abysmal performance in the early stages and the transition of sovereignty."
He included himself among those who erred in Iraq's crucial first year after the toppling of the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Sanchez took command in the summer of 2003 and oversaw the occupation force amid an insurgency that has sparked a low-grade civil war in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
They also speak from hindsight in an armchair.
I am glad that the President removed this guy from command.
Sanchez was a terrible Iraq commander even worse then General Casey.
He must have been one of Clinton’s boys.
Can you imagine a general who does not believe in victory was leading our troops in Iraq from 2003-2004! How can people like this be a part of the armed forces?
Well the President also is the one who put him in command...
No doubt, that is why he was removed by the President.
Then Newt comes along on FNC with Chris Wallace and says “Every American should be deeply troubled by the words of General Sanchez”, and he meant by that (he made clear) that the words should be believed outright and are another bad mark against the Bush Administration. Thanks, Newt. (/sar
I call Ricardo Sanchez's performance in Iraq bleak.
So Newt agrees with Sanchez that we cannot win the war against the terrorists in Iraq? Is Newt agreeing with Harry Reid as well? What a shame. And Newt believe he has any chance of becoming the Republican nominee? What a shame.
This could be the case of ego: “I couldn’t do it, so nobody else can.”
Don’t forget Paul Bremer’s abysmal performance, with particluar attention to his elimination of the CDR’s funds in Sep 03. His idiocy poured gas on the violence as he removed the carrot from the miltary and left them with just a stick. He, and his DoS cromies, are the proximate cause of the situation we are in today.
That said, Sanchez is a 40 watt.
Screw politics, that's why we are where we are. We try to fight & still win world opinion. Never gunna happen.
Go in and DESTROY THE ENEMY!!
“failure of political leadership in it’s entirety”
I agree with that statement, and I’m strong supporter of the Iraq war.
Weak rules of engagement, failure to initially disarm the populace , etc., were things that should have been done. It’s not just Bush; it’s the pentagon and all the generals that have lived their entire careers in the service without victory.
Comments, please.
Clearly this latest version of Wesley Clark is already lobbying for the position of SecDef in the Hillary administration.
More than an few Generals in WWII were removed from command nicely in public for their lack of aggressiveness and accomplishments and they retired into obscurity. Those were gentlemen, this latest crop of “Retired Generals” and that especially includes Sanchez are not gentlemen by any stretch of the imagination.
“Excuse my French,” but Newt has turned into a media whore.
So lets put away the Bush cheers and pom-poms... and agree mistakes were made....from the top down.
Is he the one everybody called “nasty sanchez”, or was that somebody else?
Good idea. I never thought of that.
How do you suggest we FIND THE ENEMY so he can be destroyed?
Newt might be a media whore...but he said what needed to be said.
Anybody got a picture of George McClellan?
This is not surprising. Sanchez is from Rio Grande City. Major *crime/smuggling/illegals* stop along the Texas border. It’s always been an “if you can’t beat’em, join’em” kind of place.
Well, ain't you funny?
How do you suggest we FIND THE ENEMY so he can be destroyed?
Ever see them attacking us from cemeteries, mosques? Do you know our ROE do not allow us to return fire under those circumstances? Finding the enemy has NEVER been the issue. How & when we can is where the problem lies.
Abu Ghraib.
Sanchez, along with a few others, has one thing right. Our big mistake following 9/11 was failing to mobilize the country. We told everybody to go on about their business. Go to the mall. Buy things. Enjoy yourself.
So, who is feeling the pain now. Our sons and daughters in the field. And us moms and pops at home who have to suffer those among our fellow countrymen who just don't have the patience to win the game. If General Petraeus turns out to be Bush's Grant, watch the fairweather friends rush back in.
Sociology, anthropology and politics are not within the General's domain of professional expertise. Therefore, his comments on the matter are his personal opinion, not his professional opinion.
BTW, here is a link that will make you sick to your stomach.
“Over 11,000 US Visas Issued to Saudi Students Last Year-Someone at embassy is doing things right”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1801794/posts
I agree the war can be won, but only with drastic changes...and unfortunately time keeps on ticking due to political wrangling. This next presidential election is going to be crucial.
Do you think Newt is wrong?
Gen. Patton's Speech to the Third Army - June 5, 1944
Comment:
What the liberals will never get is that it may have been Bush’s choice to go to war in Iraq but this war now belongs to every man, woman and child living in the United States.
How accurate is AFP? Their quotes can be trusted?
Even better, got one of Lloyd R. Fredendall?
Fact is when Newt was in charge, his as$ lasted less then 4 years before he was given the boot - Clinton made a fool of him -
Lets all understand a basic reality, no war goes perfectly and in all our successes of wars past.....until victory was achieved there were easily dozens of reasons to list "were we were failing", or "where we could have done better", etc, etc, etc.
We are changing the world by fundamentally moving the ME out of the dark ages....That is an extremely difficult task. People need to stop trying to focus on so called "mistakes" and understand there are merely actions (by all sides) that result in situations that we must adapt to, improvise and overcome.....so in the end we meet our objectives.
Newt is saying anything that needs to be said. He is a blowhard fool (who happens to be right politically a majority of the time).
This isn't about pom poms .. The President and other have already admitted that some mistakes were made ..
What is happening now is a pile on by some to get attention for themselves .. not for what's best for the country
He’s bucking for a job in Hillary’s administration.
Mistakes were made.
Sanchez on the list of bad generals we had in Iraq is near the bottom. Lower then even Casey and Abizaid.
While occasionally important, these aren’t critical.
Most Americans are killed not by direct fire, from mosques or anywhere else, but by IED’s. Changing the ROE to allow firing on mosques and cemeteries would not significantly change the equation.
What we have over there is essentially a giant hostage situation. The enemy, in his various forms, wins every time he succeeds in killing innocents, while we lose.
This isn’t fair or even reasonable, but it happens to be a fact.
If you think finding the enemy has NEVER been an issue, I suggest you need to do a little more research on the war. It is not only an issue, it is for all practical purposes the only issue, as the enemy is utterly incapable of facing our troops in open combat. Whenever wwe find the enemy, he is promptly destroyed.
In guerrilla/insurgency combat, finding the enemy and isolating him from the people is the name of the game. So far our efforts have met with less than complete success.
The problem is it was another failure of judgment with dire consequences. Kind of like looking into Putin’s eyes and seeing a “good man”...
You never got it. It was and is substance.
If you stop and think on it for a bit, you don't really believe that, do you?
I don't understand people who say a conflict cannot be won militarily. I do not understand people who say a conflict can only be won politically.
The truth is that every military conflict has a political resolution or it cannot end.
Arm the people.
Let them kill the enemy among them.
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