General Ricardo Sanchez's Book Slams Bush, Iraq Handling

The Washington Post points out that in the hubbub of the McClellan book, another scathing memoir has come out exposing the truth behind Iraq.

Getting lost in the media furor over McClellan's memoir is the new autobiography of retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the onetime commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, who is scathing in his assessment that the Bush administration "led America into a strategic blunder of historic proportions."

Among the anecdotes in "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story" is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in Fallujah in 2004, triggering a fierce U.S. response that was reportedly egged on by the president.

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a "confused" pep talk:

"Kick ass!" he quotes the president as saying. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal."

"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

A White House spokesman had no comment.

Comments

[avraamjack]

.
Success has a million fathers, failure is a ...............
.
( roughly paraphrased )
.

[nogimmicks]

The problem is that it is NOT a failure for the beneficiaries of the war, such as the war companies, the oil companies and the right-wing likudists. The fathers of this success (Cheney and Kristol within the top ten) are proud of their achievements and are generously rewarded.

[avraamjack]

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.


John F. Kennedy

[wadenelson1]

descendent of Prescott Bush.

There, I finished it for you.

[MissingAmerica]

We will kill them? We will not blink? Most disturbing, "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will hunt them out and kill them!" Isn't this what the radical Muslims are saying about the non-believers. "If they do not believe, they will be hunted down and killed." Bush has turned us into our enemies! This man needs to be stopped! Impeach now!

[lobear00]

Bush sounds more like the "Rebirth of Hitler's Twin.

[profounddogs]

Yeah, 'ol Georgie Sr. and Barbara had Satan. Wonder if they ever regret having not only a little Satan but a dimwit taboot?

[bikerdude]

I wonder if any of the MSM are questioning our presidential candidates about what should be done about making this failed president accountable for his actions?

[PackyJ]

Funny you should ask:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/15/obama-would-immediately-r_n_96690.html

[Suthngal]

I thought I read somewhere that Obama said that he would do this.

[BobEvansZombie]

Bush speaks just like someone who's never faced any adversity in his entire life, much less anything resembling combat.

[profounddogs]

Evident by his failure as a "leader."

[TAC]

"Evident by his failure as a "leader.""

Failure at E V E R Y T H I N G he's ever done...

[AZM]

In the final analysis, we have a "free" press that is supposed to inform us, not sell us nonsense from an administration obsessed with a thirst for power.
That "free" press failed us miserably, and it was not just Fox "news".
Where was the due diligence?
The news media, like everybody else, was led by blind rage and by a small minded administration elected (selected?) by those who thought they would be fun to have a beer with!

[Steambomb]

The general is right. This is worse than Napoleon in Russia. The only library that should be built for Bush is the mountain of evidence that he deserves to be read in front of a judge.

[lvdragonlady]

Keep it coming, we will have more then enough in IMPEACH this useless shrub.

[plages]

No "Impeachment!" Just trial, after trial, after the election, and after January 20th, '09!

[joebaggadonuts]

Sanchez strikes me a as a good man.

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

His was a purely political appointment. His experience did not ready him for the position and he was in over his head from day one.

[bigforkgirl]

Where is your proof that he was a "political appt" and "in over his head"?

[Marlyn]

Total nonsense.

[frappe]

I guess that Bush seems to think that by engaging U.S. forces on foreign soil will somehow compensate for his pathetic military record during the Vietnam era. It is so chicken-hawk...so typical of a Republican mentality -- "Do as I say and not as I do."

[ClevelandTom]

In our history since WWII, the president has always acted as a restraining force on the military because of political realities. For example: McArthur and Truman on Korea, Kennedy and the Joint Chiefs on Cuba, LBJ on expanding the Vietnam war into Laos and Cambodia.

Here we have a president urging the military to "kick ass." This is a first as far as I know.

I think Bush knew full well that the house of cards he built to justify the Iraq war would topple and he naively hoped that a quick military victory would avoid the inevitable failure of his legacy.

[bikerdude]

He makes bush appear even more delusional that I thought he was. This crackpot must be held accountable for his actions. Impeachment would be a fine first step.

[sillyseason]

GWB: "...This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal..."

The words of a coward and a hypocrite.

GWB didn't have to concern himself with withdrawal during Nam... Why? Because the coward had daddy keep him out of Nam. Hey George: You're a coward!!

From a Vietnam Vet.
USMC - Danang, Hqtrs 1/11

[RedWhiteandBrooklyn]

Hoo-rah, bro! I NEVER thought that we would have an AWOL as Commander-in-Chief. ven after he wasn't allowed to fly anymore, just showing up one weekend every month wass to scary for Li'l Georgie Boy, I guess. Chickenshit coward disgusts me every time I think of how he is using our troops and wasting their live to make himself seem like a tough guy, when he's just a little boy who still hasn't resolved a major Oedipus Complex.

[Marlyn]

As a little boy, GW liked to blow up frogs with fire crackers.

[stevejbons]

The most important action the nation can take following the November election is to thoroughly investigate these issues and then indict and convict anyone proven to be guilty:

Voter caging during the 2000 election and possible collusion between RNC, Florida and Diebold and Sequoia officials

Same for 2004 election only with Ohio officials

Bush family's business connections to bin Laden family and Saudi Royal Family

Retry Scooter Libby with new charges; this time also indict Dick Cheney

Sun Cruise floating casino operation and it ties to the RNC and the White House

Connections between PNAC founders and Bush-Cheney lies to drag the nation into war with iraq

Illegal no bid contacts with Halliburton and other contractors in Iraq

Carlyle Group stockholders and board members and degree they engaged in war profiteering

Karl Rove's secret relationship with a number of defense contractors

[neuron]

Damned fine train wreck this is...