General Sanchez: US can’t win in Iraq

June 4, 2007
General Sanchez: US can’t win in Iraq

SAN ANTONIO: The man who led coalition forces in Iraq during the first year of the occupation says the US can forget about winning the war.

"I think if we do the right things politically and economically with the right Iraqi leadership we could still salvage at least a stalemate, if you will — not a stalemate but at least stave off defeat," retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez said in an interview.

Sanchez, in his first interview since he retired last year, is the highest-ranking former military leader yet to suggest the Bush administration fell short in Iraq. "I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time," Sanchez said after a recent speech in San Antonio, Texas.

War Planners Prepare For Defeat in Iraq

February 8, 2007
War Planners Prepare For Defeat in Iraq

Feb. 8, 2007 | Deep within the bowels of the Pentagon, policy planners are conducting secret
meetings to discuss what to do in the worst-case scenario in Iraq about a year from today if and
when President Bush's escalation of more than 20,000 troops fails, a participant in those
discussions told me. None of those who are taking part in these exercises, shielded from the
public view and the immediate scrutiny of the White House, believes that the so-called surge will
succeed. On the contrary, everyone thinks it will not only fail to achieve its aims but
also accelerate instability by providing a glaring example of U.S. incapacity and
incompetence.