The man who led coalition forces in Iraq from 2003 through 2004, the man who was in charge during Abu Ghraib and canned for it, now finds fault with how Bush conducted the war. What a surprise:
In a sweeping indictment of the four-year effort in Iraq, the former top American commander called the Bush administration’s handling of the war incompetent andwarned that the United States was “living a nightmare with no end in sight.”
In one of his first major public speeches since leaving the Army in late 2006, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez blamed the administration for a “catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan” and denounced the current “surge” strategy as a “desperate” move that will not achieve long-term stability.
“After more than fours years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism,” Mr. Sanchez said, at a gathering here of military reporters and editors.
But his role as commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal leaves General Sanchez vulnerable to criticism that that he is shifting the blame from himself and exacting revenge against an administration that replaced him as the top commander in the aftermath of the scandal and declined to nominate him for a fourth star, forcing his retirement.
Though he was cleared of wrongdoing in the abuse matter by an Army investigation, he nonetheless became a symbol, along with officials like L. Paul Bremer III , the chief administrator in Iraq, of the ineffective American leadership early in the occupation.
Questioned by reporters after his speech, he included the military and himself among those who made mistakes in Iraq, citing the failure to insist on a better post-invasion stabilization plan.
But his main criticism was leveled at the Bush administration, which he said he said has failed to mobilize the entire United States government, other than the military, to contribute meaningfully to reconstructing and stabilizing Iraq.
The man did not deserve a fourth star because his leadership of the armed forces during his time there was terrible. Is it any wonder why he is now talking trash? The surge is working, the situation in Iraq is improving, and now this man wants to portray Iraq as a failure, and blame it all on Bush. It’s not a failure, it’s working. And any good leader understands when a tactic doesn’t work he adapts and changes. Bush understood this and canned Sanchez. After some fits and starts he found Petreaus and the rest is history.
To find Grant Lincoln had to go through the likes of McClellan.
That is a good leader.
Sanchez obviously was a capable leader but not up to the task at hand and was replaced. He feels insulted so now goes on the offensive with this baloney.
Before long we will see this man, the man in charge during Abu Ghraib which the left cite incessantly, become the lefts new drummer boy. Now that will be ironic.
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