Former Iraq Commander Faults Bush

The Washington Post ^ | Saturday, October 13 | Josh White

[LiteKeeper]

Excuse me, General, but it is the Generals, and their staffs, who craft the plans. If the plans were flawed, who is to blame? The Administration, or the military experts who advised them?

Litekeeper
MAJOR, US Army, retired

[Livfreeordi]

The timing of ths sounds rather suspicious to me.

Sounds to me like a general who may have been fired as head of the troops in Iraq..who now can’t stand the idea of seeing Petraeus succeed where he failed.

[NordP]

Tell him to put his name on the list....It seems everyone’s doing it. Sheesh - shameful.

[pieceofthepuzzle]

He has blamed the Abu Ghraib incident for his dismissal and is probably bitter about that and the aftermath. There has also been alot of applause for Patraeus’s successes and Sanchez might feel like unfair comparisons will be made between his tenure and what is happening now. He apparently did not get along with Bremer.

[Thrownatbirth]

Is it me or did Gen. Sanchez suddenly develop an affinity for lib-speak? Accusing civilian government employees of a “lust for power”, his misuse of the word “strategic”, and some unseemly and ungeneral-like phrasing has me wondering.
MoveOn couldn’t have scripted Sanchez’s words any better.

[MondoQueen]

Also, it might be someone who stands to gain something by saying these things at this time. They are really pulling out all the stops, aren’t they? This week they tried to turn Turkey against us. When we went to war in 2003 the story, which was repeated all over the Middle East, spread the lie that all we wanted in Iraq was to take over the country and steal the oil. Now that they’ve found out we weren’t doing that, the tribal leaders are working with us. What next?

[matthew fuller]

From the General who will be remembered forever for Abu Ghraib.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Excuse me, General, but it is the Generals, and their staffs, who craft the plans. If the plans were flawed, who is to blame?

It's shameful, isn't it?

I left active duty, honorably, as a Captain in '95 when my obligation was up because I was sick of serving self-serving, Clinton-promoted, guys like this a-hole.

I still serve in the Guard. We have a terribly political, weak and self-interested officer corp now. It's disgraceful....

[Enchante]

Sanchez opened by criticizing the U.S. news media, saying he was unfairly labeled "a liar" and "a torturer" because of the Abu Ghraib scandal, and he alleged that the media have lost their sense of ethics. He said that members of the media blow stories out of proportion and are unwilling to correct mistakes, and that the "media environment is doing a great disservice to the nation."

I notice WaPo only got around to this in the very last paragraph - that way it can't be said they never mentioned it, but of course most newspaper readers probably never get past the headline and the first couple of paragraphs.

[Bulldawg Fan]

Exactly, the guy was in charge on the ground and it failed. Now he points his dirty fingers at the President.

Must be getting ready to run for office as a Democrat. As I have said many times, any military man who is a Democrat has a self hate complex.

Bulldawg Fan
Major, US Army, Retired

[WilliamofCarmichael]

The "media environment is doing a great disservice to the nation."

As Exhibit One I offer the newspaper's employee's prominent mention of Abu Ghraib and not a hint of the horrible torture, mutilation, and beheadings of captured American soldiers and civilians.

Panties on the prisoners' heads, barking dogs, and snickering women pointing at bare-assed prisoners at Abu Ghraib are all forms of torture far worse than eyeballs being pried out of sockets, proclaim the employees of the MSM.

[mission9]

Sounds to me like he wants a Network arm chair general gig.

Lose a few skirmishes and blame the Republicans. Chris Matthews will love him.

[PISANO]

What ever happened to DUTY HONOR COUNTRY.........and old soldiers just 'fading' away!

These pompous Clinton Generals make me sick!!

[The South Texan]

Yep. This will be another man that used to be slimed by the Drive Byes that will be now built up as a hero since he is taking shots at Bush.

What a shame.

[End Times Crusader]

Sour grapes.

[idkfa]

Sanchez's speech

[Ingtar]

Wait... we allowed that viper’s den of the State Department to plan the after battle efforts? No wonder it was such a mess!

[Son House]

“especially the State Department”

especially ‘Democrat supporters’ in the State Department

[kylaka]

It pretty bad when a person of Mexican origin has EARNED the title of Gringo. Sanchez must have wanted that fourth star pretty bad. When you blame everybody around you for your misfortune there is no doubt where the fault lies.