Scoop Emerges from MRE Confab: Former Top General in Iraq Hits War Progress -- and Reporters

By: E&P Staff An appearance by the former top U.S. general in Iraq at the annual conference of the Military Reporters and Editors group in Arlington, Va., led to national headlines, including a story that would top the web site of The New York Times on Friday and that paper's front page on Monday.

Lt. Gen Richard S. Sanchez called the Bush administration?s handling of the war incompetent and warned that this country was ?living a nightmare with no end in sight.? He called the current "surge" a "desperate" move and just the latest in the "catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan."

He headed U.S. forces in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. He left the Army in 2006 and had made few public statements since.

An article in Army Times opened today: "The former top commander of forces in Iraq lambasted reporters Friday for having 'agenda-driven biases' he called 'a threat to democracy,' and then laid out the Bush administration and Congress for bad planning and no clear end state for the war in Iraq."

Sanchez said, "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."

The New York Times reported, "Asked following his remarks why he waited nearly a year after his retirement to outline his views, he responded that that it was not the place of active duty officers to challenge lawful orders from civilian authorities. General Sanchez, who is said to be considering a book, promised further public statements criticizing officials by name. 'There was been a glaring and unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders,' he said, adding later in his remarks that civilian officials have been 'derelict in their duties' and guilty of a 'lust for power.'

"The White House had no initial comment....

"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....

"The administration, Congress and the entire inter-agency, especially the State Department, must shoulder responsibility for the catastrophic failure, and the American people must hold them accountable."

The Army Times article included this colorful passage: "Jaws dropped as Sanchez glared out at the room, and then eyes rolled as he spent an hour blaming everyone but himself. Most of what he said about the military has been said before: There?s no grand strategy, the Iraqi Army should not have been disbanded, there was no planning for stabilization or recovery past the initial invasion and, 'the administration has failed.'

"He said deployment cycles aren?t working with current troop levels, that it will take decades to fix the 'military?s full-spectrum readiness,' and that if the U.S. were to withdraw from Iraq, it would lead to 'chaos that would lead to instability in the Middle East.' And, he said the Powell Doctrine ? which requires a clear exit strategy as part of a war plan ? was violated.

"He said some poor strategic decisions in Iraq had become 'defeats because of the media,' and that some reporters feed from a 'pigs? trough.'"

More from Sanchez's speech:

"The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war....

"For some of you, just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconcieved notions, biases and agendas. It is astounding to me when I hear the vehement disagreement with the military's forays into information operations that seek to disseminate the truth and inform the Iraqi people in order to counter our enemy's blatant propaganda. As I assess various media entities, some are unquestionably engaged in political propaganda that is uncontrolled."