Lost in the coverage of the 2008 Democratic presidential race and the scathing memoir by Scott McClellen is the autobiography just published by a former commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (Ret).
In "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story," Gen. Sanchez goes into detail about various military blunders that led to where we are today.
In one excerpt, published by TIME, Sanchez explains why there were inadequate troop levels in Iraq for a time.
The RET. General explains further below the fold.
CENTCOM had originally called for twelve to eighteen months of Phase IV activity with active troop deployments. But then CENTCOM had completely walked away by simply stating that the war was over and Phase IV was not their job.
That decision set up the United States for a failed first year in Iraq. There is no question about it. And I was supposed to believe that neither the Secretary of Defense nor anybody above him knew anything about it? Impossible! Rumsfeld knew about it. Everybody on the NSC knew about it, including Condoleezza Rice, George Tenet, and Colin Powell. Vice President Cheney knew about it. And President Bush knew about it.
There's not a doubt in my mind that they all embraced this decision to some degree. And if it had not been for the moral courage of Gen. John Abizaid to stand up to them all and reverse Franks's troop drawdown order, there's no telling how much more damage would have been done.
In the meantime, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty.
LT Gen Sanchez is going to be on Rachel Maddow tonight and I'm anxious to hear what he's got to say.
After reading the TIME article I'm even more disgusted with the entire Bush admininistration. I feel the American people have been violated in every way imaginable. Even more reason to investigate the entire Bush administration.
It's not about revenge...it's all about an administration that made up it's own rule of law and damned be the Constitution of the United States of America.
What is it the conservatives say about the illegal immigrants coming to this country?
"They broke the law!!"
Well so did the former President only this time there should be harsh consequences....not like a poor immigrant wanting to feed his family.