Former US commander calls Iraq 'nightmare with no end'

[Zeus]

Former US commander calls Iraq 'nightmare with no end'



Agence France-Presse
Last updated 11:10am (Mla time) 10/13/2007



WASHINGTON--(UPDATE) A former top US military commander in Iraq said Friday that the current White House strategy in Iraq will not achieve victory in the four-and-a-half-year war, which he described as "a nightmare with no end in sight."
In the bluntest assessment of Iraq by a former senior Pentagon official yet, retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez also lambasted US political leaders as "incompetent," "inept," "derelict in the performance of their duty" and suggested they would have been court-martialed had they been members of the US military.
"There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," said Sanchez, addressing a meeting of military correspondents and editors in Arlington, a Virginia suburb of Washington.
He blasted President George W. Bush's "surge" strategy that calls for maintaining more than 160,000 US troops in Iraq until the end of the year in the hope of reducing sectarian violence and bringing about a modicum of political stability.
The strategy has since been adjusted, with the current plan calling for the withdrawal of about 21,500 combat troops by next July to bring the total to the "pre-surge" level of 130,000 servicemen.
But Sanchez said he did not believe these changes would prove effective.
"Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory," he said. "The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat."
Born into a poor family in southern Texas, Sanchez rose through the ranks of the US military to become the highest-ranking Hispanic in the US Army.
In 1991, he served as a battalion commander during Operation Desert Storm, a US-led allied operation to eject Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait.
He became commander of coalition forces in Iraq in June 2003, after the US-led invasion, and served in that capacity for a year.
Sanchez retired from the military in November 2006, part of the fallout from a scandal over abuse of detainees by US military personnel at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.
Reacting late Friday to Sanchez's comments, the White House evoked a September report to Congress by the current US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker. They painted a difficult situation they said was nevertheless marked by gradual improvements.
"We appreciate his service to the country," White House spokesman Trey Bohn told AFP, of Sanchez. "As General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have said, there is more work to be done, but progress is being made in Iraq. And that's what we are focused on now."
Sanchez, however, had a starkly different view.
"There is nothing going on today in Washington that would give us hope," he insisted.
He said US political leaders from both parties have been too often consumed by partisan grandstanding and political struggles that, as he put it, at times have "endangered the lives of our sons and daughters on the battlefield."
According to Sanchez, US politicians in both the administration and Congress have too often chosen loyalty to their political party above loyalty to the constitution because of what he called "their lust for power."
"There has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders," the retired general complained. "In my profession, these type of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialed."
For all his criticism, Sanchez essentially agreed with President George W. Bush's position that a precipitous US military withdrawal from Iraq would plunge the country and, possibly the whole region, into chaos.
He argued that some level of US military presence in Iraq would be necessary "for the foreseeable future."
But at the same time, he called for a "unified national strategy" in Iraq, without offering any specifics.


Kailan kaya matatapos ang gulo dyan?

[awing]

Sigurado naman walang katapusan ang war sa Iraq. Ng nadakip si Saddam at namatay, everyday is expecting it was the end...pero til now its getting worse and worse. Nagsasayang lang ng pera ang US.!

[uls]

Radical Islamists are winning the war in Iraq.

The richest, most powerful nation in the world, with the most advanced and powerful military force in the world, is losing a war to a group of bearded men armed with rifles and homemade bombs.

[Monseratto]

The war will only end when Iraq is cut up along ethnic lines, which the US is trying to prevent. However the oil that Dubya so craves for is located in a region dominated by Shias, who are the same ethnic line as Iranian mullahs. Though dominant yung Shia sa buong Iraq, walang tiwala si Dubya sa kanila dahil sa influence ng mga brothers nila sa Iran. Iraq has the second biggest known reserve of oil.

Yung pinaka lugi are the Sunnis, who are the same group of Sadam and the Saudis. Walang langis sa lugar nila, at sila yung nangugulo ng madalas. Pero may alliance of convinience ngayon kasama ng mga kano kasi may dati ng distrust sila towards the Iran-Shia group.

May Kurds din sa north, at more or less autonomous state na sila from the rest of Iraq. Mas tahimik din doon at thriving yung economy.

[oldblue]

double post

[empy]

i think it's time. the Iraqi government needs to stand on its own two feet. plus, untold new people hate us because of this occupation.

i still don't think we should leave the Iraqis hanging, so we have to say - complete withdrawal by EOY 2009, and STICK TO THE SCHEDULE. when the Dems take over the White House i think we'll be able to make progress.

[VtEC]

wasted lives = too many
wasted money = billions of dollars
goal = unknown

what the heck is going on with the US?why they cant just leave and let the Iraqis settle their problems. just like what they did in Vietnam.easy, come and go.

[oldblue]

alam ko kasi mayroon ancient entrance dyan sa hollow earth eh kaya talagang pahirapan dyan

[Jun aka Pekto]

wasted lives = too many
wasted money = billions of dollars
goal = unknown

what the heck is going on with the US?why they cant just leave and let the Iraqis settle their problems. just like what they did in Vietnam.easy, come and go.

The Sunnis probably don't want the US to go because they know they're dead once the US leaves.

[creepy]

Kailangan mag-maintain ng US bases sa Iraq!

[CVT]

The Sunnis probably don't want the US to go because they know they're dead once the US leaves.

A divided Iraq? Hhhmmmm.....

4101:victory:

[Jun aka Pekto]

A divided Iraq? Hhhmmmm.....

4101:victory:

I doubt Iraq will be divided. There just won't be any Sunnis left if the Shiites have it their way.

Even Saddam thanked his American captors for the good treatment he got. But, he had nothing but contempt for the Shiites. The bad blood between Shiites and Sunnis runs really deep.

Under Saddam, the Shiites were suffering. Then the US kicks Saddam out and can be blamed for the current situation in Iraq. But what's the alternative?

Leave Saddam in power? That's not really a good alternative.

Carve up Iraq into 3 distinct areas (Kurdish, Sunni, Shiite)? Turkey would have a fit if a Kurdish nation emerged along its border.

Having separate enclaves would not guarantee the Sunnis and Shiites being at peace with each other, so long as both sides cry for revenge.

Then there's Al Qaeda. They'll do anything to stop a lasting peace in Iraq to the point of killing fellow Muslims.

Personally, I'm not sure what the solution is. It really is a nightmare. But, I thought everyone knew that already.

[juntzo]

another vietnam? no... i don't think so. what happened in vietnam after the americans left is in a way better. now that country is eager to have american investors. do you think that will ever happen in iraq when the US leave?

[redorange]

another vietnam? no... i don't think so. what happened in vietnam after the americans left is in a way better. now that country is eager to have american investors. do you think that will ever happen in iraq when the US leave?

Another Vietnam? Yes. Not in the manner of what Vietnam has become but in the same way that the US had to admit defeat. In Vietnam US soldiers fought with and against the Vietnamese, your enemies looked and spoke just like your allies. In Iraq US soldiers fight with and against Iraqis, your enemy looks and speaks exactly like your friend. How do you know who is your enemy? In guerilla warfare this is an advantage for the other side not the US soldier. About 50% of the people I work with have done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the military or part of the agency I work with and they all say the same thing, your enemy looks like the guy next to you. Hell even the Brits will be leaving the US in Iraq. The war on terror will be like the war on drugs(declared by Nixon) you can't win it you just slow it down as much as you can since it's their game and it's their rules and they change the rules whenever they want and they decide when it will end.

[redorange]

I doubt Iraq will be divided. There just won't be any Sunnis left if the Shiites have it their way.

Even Saddam thanked his American captors for the good treatment he got. But, he had nothing but contempt for the Shiites. The bad blood between Shiites and Sunnis runs really deep.

Under Saddam, the Shiites were suffering. Then the US kicks Saddam out and can be blamed for the current situation in Iraq. But what's the alternative?

Leave Saddam in power? That's not really a good alternative.

Carve up Iraq into 3 distinct areas (Kurdish, Sunni, Shiite)? Turkey would have a fit if a Kurdish nation emerged along its border.

Having separate enclaves would not guarantee the Sunnis and Shiites being at peace with each other, so long as both sides cry for revenge.

Then there's Al Qaeda. They'll do anything to stop a lasting peace in Iraq to the point of killing fellow Muslims.

Personally, I'm not sure what the solution is. It really is a nightmare. But, I thought everyone knew that already.

I think we should have left Saddam in power since he was the one figure that could control the country. I believe that not all countries and cultures are mature enough to handle a democracy similar to the United States. It's time that the US admit that and stop attempting to convert every country to a similar democracy. Correction the US needs to stop converting countries with oil to a similar democracy since other places have dictators also and the US has never attempted to convert them to a democracy.

I guess I'm just tired of watching people I grew up and went to school with come home in coffins to fight a war that didn't need to happen.