Ed Pilkington in New York
October 15, 2007 - The Guardian
A retired general who led US forces in Iraq at the start of
the insurgency has indicated that he may name and shame the
individuals in the Bush administration he blames for a "catastrophically
flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan".
Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez has delivered one of the
most damning assessments of US policy in Iraq, becoming the
most senior war commander to do so. "There is no question
that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight," he
told reporters in Arlington, Virginia.
The White House responded with a statement that though there
was more work to be done in Iraq, progress was being made.
But what might cause anxiety within the administration was
the veiled threat contained in Gen Sanchez's comments to identify
individuals.
Asked by reporters to say who he blamed for the chaos in US
policy, he declined, but added: "More to follow later."
Gen Sanchez's threat chimes with speculation that he is planning
to write a book about his experiences as chief of the US-led
forces in 2003/4 during a period that saw the flaring of the
early anti-American insurgency and the outbreak of the Abu
Ghraib prison abuse scandal.
Were he to put his criticisms down on paper he would join
a growing line of former officials who have played out their
disgruntlement with the Bush administration in book form. They
include Paul Bremer, Gen Sanchez's civilian counterpart in
Iraq, who published My Year in Iraq in January 2006, and George
Tenet, the former CIA director, who accused the Bush administration
of deciding to invade Iraq with little or no debate.
Even without naming names, Gen Sanchez's analysis of the mishandling
of the occupation of Iraq, delivered on Friday, was piercing. "From
a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan
to the administration's latest surge strategy, this administration
has failed to employ and synchronise its political, economic
and military power," he said.
Asked at what point he thought the mission in Iraq had started
to go wrong, he replied: "About the 15th of June 2003." That
was the day he took command of US forces in the country. Gen
Sanchez went on to say that after four years of fighting in
Iraq, there was still no clarity within the civilian leadership,
which he accused of "lust of power" and of failing
to mobilise all corners of government for the struggle in Iraq. "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."
Though no individual commanders were found responsible for
the Abu Ghraib scandal, the fact that Gen Sanchez was in command
at the time of the abuse has been held as a negative mark on
his record. He continued for a year in active duty after he
left Iraq, but was not preferred for promotion to the rank
of four-star general, thus forcing his retirement. Critics
may accuse him of sour grapes should he seek to take his criticisms
to a more personal level.
Gen Sanchez's comments come as a Washington Post journalist
was shot dead in Baghdad. Salih Saif Aldin, 32, who wrote under
the name Salih Dehema, was killed in the Sadiyah neighbourhood.
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