General Sanchez Rebukes Bush On Iraq

Yet another former general is criticizing Bush's approach in Iraq:

(VOA) The former U.S. commander of multi-national troops in Iraq says President Bush's strategy there is failing because it relies too much on military force and not enough on political reconciliation. VOA White House Correspondent Scott Stearns reports, President Bush says Iraqi leaders are making political progress.

As commander of multi-national forces in Iraq shortly after the fall of Baghdad, retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez says he saw first hand the consequences of what he calls the Bush administration's failure to properly coordinate American political, economic, diplomatic, and military power.

"That failure continues today," he said. "At its base is the mistaken belief, despite years of evidence to the contrary, that victory can be achieved through the application of military power alone."

Sanchez says he gave the Democratic Party's Saturday radio address not as a representative of the opposition party but as a retired military officer.

...

"The keys to securing the future of Iraq are aggressive regional diplomacy, political reconciliation, and economic hope," said Sanchez. "Yet, as our current commanders in Iraq have recently noted, the improvements in security produced by the courage and blood of our troops have not been matched by a willingness on the part of Iraqi leaders to make the hard choices necessary to bring peace to their country."

But what does he know anyway?