Articles
Reuters: Retired U.S. commander speaks out for Democrats
11/24/2007
By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The general who led
Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, in the Democratic weekly
radio address, acknowledged that Bush's escalation strategy this year had
improved security in
"There is no evidence that the Iraqis will choose to do
so in the near future or that we have an ability to force that result,"
said Sanchez, an increasingly vocal critic of what he called Bush
administration policy failures in
He endorsed the latest attempt by Democrats in the House of
Representatives to use Iraq-war funding legislation to push for a reduction of
Such attempts have regularly failed to overcome Bush's
opposition and a reduction in violence in recent months has eased some of the
political pressure on the White House for a change in strategy.
But Sanchez urged a rapid cut in the
"It is well past time to adopt a new approach in
The Pentagon said
Sanchez commanded the U.S.-led coalition in
Last month Sanchez blamed the Bush administration for a
"catastrophic failure" in leadership of the war, saying it had left
the
He said in the radio address that it would take at least a
decade for the U.S. Army to recover from the war's degradation to military
readiness.
Sanchez also endorsed a provision in the House legislation
that would have required all
The manual bans internationally condemned interrogation
techniques such as "waterboarding," or simulated drowning, which the
CIA is believed to have used on at least three terrorism suspects since the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the