Iraq War the Eternal Nightmare

Iraq War Is `Nightmare' With No End, Sanchez Says

Hat Tip (Bloomberg) -- Retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who led U.S. forces in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, criticized American leaders for placing partisan gain at home above victory abroad and consigning America to a ``nightmare with no end in sight.''

The White House, Congress and especially the State Department bear blame for a strategy that has shipped forces overseas without the political and economic backing crucial for victory, Sanchez said in a speech yesterday in Arlington, Virginia.

``Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leaders involved in the management of this war?'' Sanchez asked, according to a transcript of the speech to military reporters and editors. ``In my profession, these types of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialed.''

Sanchez, who retired in 2006, condemned President George W. Bush's infusion of as many as 30,000 extra U.S. troops in Iraq this year as a ``desperate attempt'' to make up for years of shortcomings. The best the U.S. can manage under the current approach is to ``stave off defeat,'' said Sanchez, who was overall commander of U.S. forces.

``This enemy is more dangerous than any we have faced in the 20th century,'' said Sanchez, adding that a sudden withdrawal of troops from Iraq would unleash chaos in the Middle East.

The U.S. military effort has, from the 2003 invasion, been hasty and poorly managed, Sanchez said. More HERE

AAPP: Rather than comment on this story, I decided to provide a link to a post by David Podvin regarding those pathetic bastards in Washington and how they screwed America and their pathetic lies about the war on Iraq.

ETERNAL NIGHTMARE

By David Podvin

When Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez commanded the American troops in Iraq he passionately insisted that the United States was winning. Now that Sanchez has retired he describes our nation's occupation of Iraq as being “a nightmare with no end in sight.” This statement not only reverses Sanchez' pronouncements made while in uniform, it also contradicts the optimistic congressional testimony of current commander General David Petraeus... who apparently really did betray us. Sanchez says it was his duty to obey orders and not dissent publicly when he was on active duty, but that in retirement he feels obliged to speak the truth. By acknowledging candor is incompatible with military service the former officer has mocked the Senate resolution that condemns questioning the integrity of warriors. According to the prevailing wisdom, Sanchez must be regarded as a traitor.

He is not alone. Everyone who tells the truth about the Iraq War is deemed to be a traitor, just as everyone who lies about the Iraq War is exalted as a patriot. Modern America is reality inverted, a fabulist's Wonderland that transcends the wildest imagination of Lewis Carroll. Once, the United States destroyed Vietnamese villages in order to save them. Now, we are winning a glorious victory in Iraq by getting our asses kicked. Surrealism is a wonderful artistic device, but it is even more effective as a governing tool. The American people have become so disoriented by ambient fantasy that they are subsidizing the war as they oppose it. Yet when the fairy tales are cast aside, it becomes clear that America is losing in Iraq and will continue to lose in Iraq because there is nothing to win in Iraq.

Except for oil...

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