USA/IRAQ: Former military commander in Iraq Ricardo Sanchez condemns the U.S. Administration's policies there
- 00:00:11
- ITN Source
USA/IRAQ: Former military commander in Iraq Ricardo Sanchez condemns the U.S. Administration's policies there
Former military commander in Iraq Ricardo Sanchez condemns the U.S. Administration's policies there. A failure in the Bush administration's leadership of the Iraq war has mired the United States in a conflict with no clear way out, the former top U.S. commander in Iraq said on Friday (October 12). The blistering assessment by retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez was one of the harshest yet by a top military leader involved in the war. Without mentioning President George W. Bush by name, he called the U.S. troop escalation in Iraq, known as a "surge" a desperate attempt by an administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of the war. Sanchez said: "Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leadership involved in the management of this war? They have unquestionably been derelict in the performance of their duties." Sanchez commanded the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq from June 2003 until July 2004 as the anti-U.S. insurgency took hold. He retired in 2006 and blamed the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal for wrecking his career. He blamed the White House National Security Council for adopting a strategy that overly relied on the military and failed to effectively mobilize the government. Sanchez also spread blame to Congress, the State Department and politicians in general. "The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat," Sanchez told a group of military reporters.
ITN Source | October 13, 2007
