Pantagraph.com | News | Ex-general: 'No end in sight' in Iraq

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

To: MORE B-52s wrote on Oct 14, 2007 8:31 PM:

" Did not work in Vietnam. Did not work even after we added Laos and Cambodia to the target lists. Bush wants to try it, just the same, by bombing Iran. Still will not work. "

to More B-52's wrote on Oct 14, 2007 5:53 PM:

" Kind of out there isn't it? What is this World War 2? Who would you bomb? Shia, Sunni? Kurds? Could you determine which part of the city this target group lives in? Will we establish "democracy", lol. after we blow up the civillians? How could we avoid bombing our $600 million dollar embassy? Do we move people out of the Green Zone to take their chances, or just blow them up too? Why don't we have a direct frontal assault like D-Day, as long as we are at it. "

MORE B-52s wrote on Oct 14, 2007 1:26 PM:

" Use more bombers,Less soldiers. You bomb the 10 biggest cities in Iraq everyday for 3 weeks and enemy surrender will be quick. and no soldiers will get hit wit IED !!!!!! "

WHY wrote on Oct 14, 2007 10:20 AM:

" Why did he not make these assessments and comments WHILE STILL ON ACTIVE DUTY? He is/was a general. The only thing that would have happened is that Rumsfeld would have called for his retirement earlier. That goes for all of these self-serving generals that speak up now that they do not have any personal costs to speaking the truth. But when they were all still actively pursuing their own career enhancements, none would speak out against Rummy and his policies. Some brave generals we have.... "

To: And so Now wrote on Oct 14, 2007 2:59 AM:

" And who hired him in the first place? Lay the fault where it belongs. "

J wrote on Oct 14, 2007 1:38 AM:

" unfortunately for the country, Ricardo Sanchez is voicing his concern now, instead of 3 years ago, when he knew it was messed up. We are stuck in Iraq right now. Democrats and republican congressman are more concerned with the next election than getting troops out of iraq. and nobody is realistic about what a troop pull out will do. You can blame the war on president bush, but if the whole middle east falls into chaos because we pull out early, its our fault. Whether we like it or not, the mistakes of our elected leaders will be felt by both democrats and republicans. and unfortunately, all of our elected leaders right now are more concerned with getting people on record as voting with the president so as to use it as a weapon against the republicans in the next election. Time for congressman to start representing the best interests of their constituents, and not their partys. "

OGS Get Out of Iraq... wrote on Oct 13, 2007 11:05 PM:

" ...NOW! "

Zorro wrote on Oct 13, 2007 4:34 PM:

" The war is all screwed up? We are heading in all the wrong directions? 3,000 plus killed for nada? Yeah, It must be Clinton's fault! "W" would never be responsible for this mess........Or would he? One poster said, "Maybe God will help us?" He is. He's asking those of responsibilty to tell the truth. Too bad there are still so many of you that won't listen. "

To Spoede wrote on Oct 13, 2007 4:27 PM:

" Thank you for putting things in a positive light. I'm glad to know that we are winning. I really want to record the surrender ceremony when it happens. VI day will be quite a celebration. We deserve victory after Saddam's vicious and unprovoked on the United States at - where was it again? Anyway it will be nice to see rationing end and the defense plants go back to producing cars. Our troops can come home to their old jobs and the women can go back from their jobs in the plants to raising a family. Anyway thanks Spoede, I sort of knew the problem was the media all along. I'll go out tomorrow and buy another war bond. "

To: The rest of the story wrote on Oct 13, 2007 4:01 PM:

" Well, maybe it is because this guy and the others after him followed BushCo policy and tried to edit and censor all the news coming out of Iraq from the beginning. Embedded reporters, steered to the story, no dead body shots, no Military caskets to be covered? In short, The Army tried to micromanage the story and the story still got out of their control. Do you actually think that the Army really wants to pursue this issue? "

And so Now wrote on Oct 13, 2007 3:54 PM:

" All the people who have been posting "Let the Generals run the War" because Bush is pretending to think this way, are really really screwed- AGAIN. "

So wrote on Oct 13, 2007 3:45 PM:

" Let me get this straight. The guy who WAS IN CHARGE IN IRAQ, who was REMOVED FROM HIS POSITION, and we are to believe he doesn't have an ax to grind. My brother-in-law server directly under this man. He didn't have good things to say about his leadership skills. "

wait- wrote on Oct 13, 2007 3:34 PM:

" maybe God will help us.... "

Wat Tyler responds again wrote on Oct 13, 2007 1:29 PM:

" Hey "to wat Tyler" you missed the point. Was that intentional? So, let me 'splain in excrutiating detail. In WW2 we suffered defeat after defeat after defeat. Our armies were shattered, our soldiers and sailors were killed, our equipment failed, our territroeis were overrun and it looked like we were too little, too late and too weak. But did our newpapers call for our defeat? Did they run headlines like "Bush Lied!" and did they misquote patriots like Lt.Gen Sanchez to score political points? The Pantagraph, when it was locally run, was a good newspaper. The current editor runs trash like this article and calls it news. Far from comparing the occupation of Iraq with WW2, which is stupid, as you suggest, but maybe not for the reasons that you think, I was comparing the coverage then with the coverage now, and finding fault with what we get today. Better? "

Wat Tyler responds wrote on Oct 13, 2007 1:18 PM:

" General Sanchez, I apologize. I read the words of steeven Komarow and, even though I know better, I believed him. But Steve, AP reporter, not only took your comments out of context, he completely distorted your message. I will quote two paragraphs from your speech: "All are victims of the massive agenda driven competition for economic or political supremacy. The death knell of your ethics has been enabled by your parent organizations who have chosen to align themselves with political agendas. What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our servicemembers who are at war. My assessment is that your profession, to some extent, has strayed from these ethical standards and allowed external agendas to manipulate what the american public sees on tv, what they read in our newspapers and what they see on the web. For some of you, just like some of our politicians, the truth is of little to no value if it does not fit your own preconceived notions, biases and agendas." These words were addressed to journalists. "

Polly Wog wrote on Oct 13, 2007 1:18 PM:

" Hmmm. "Political misjudgements after the fall of Saddam?" America is on crack. The kind of crack that comes in the form of a catastrophic event, fear-peddling to exploit that event, lies, forgery, bigger and more staggering lies, followed by aggression, occupation, genocide, religious tampering to expedite "The Rapture," and who knows where we go from here. Never had justification to be in Iraq in the first place. Yet, for six years now, the Cheney/Bush people have gradually built a case (out of nothing) to do the same thing in Iran. Amazing how gullible the masses are, especially once the politicians, Federal Reserve, and big bankers figured out how to prop up an economy with toilet-paper dollars and full-throttle housing scandals. "

Sit in it DemoQuack wrote on Oct 13, 2007 12:38 PM:

" You know you have. "

to: Wait a minute wrote on Oct 13, 2007 12:03 PM:

" He was THE leader of Iraqi forces yes, but not the one who made policy. He had to do what Rusmfeld, Wolfowitz, and Attorney Doug Feith told him. If you noticed in your reading, he knew it was flawed from the day he took over, as did most all Generals. Sanchez had nothing to do with Abu Ghraib, that was Doug Feith and the civillian contractors, and yet he (Sanchez) took the heat. General Janis Karpinski, who was technically responsible for Abu Ghraib, but was purposely kept out of the loop, was demoted and docked pay for something she had no knowledge of. Scumbag neocons and contractors carried out their mission, then hid behind the skirt of a female General when the fallout came. "

to Wat Tyler wrote on Oct 13, 2007 11:56 AM:

" Compariing Bush's war to WWII is beyond stupid. Try comparing Bush's War to Vietnam... "

SPIN IT REPUCKLICANS wrote on Oct 13, 2007 11:28 AM:

" We knowyou will. "

Fix the mess! wrote on Oct 13, 2007 10:59 AM:

" Vote Ron Pual in '08. "

Spoede wrote on Oct 13, 2007 10:58 AM:

" Democrats and activists are trying desperately to label this war and this administration as failure, quagmire, wrong and unamerican, so much so that they are willing to ignore not only news and the events on the ground in Iraq, but also history and the experience of wars over the past 2000 years. Not only can we win, we are winning in Iraq. Choose any objetive measure of winning and follow the trends. We control more of the ground today than we controlled last year. We are isolating more insurgents, we are getting more help from the people, we are getting better press around the world, we are helping build a durable government that will be able to stand on its own two feet as we withdraw. But that isn't good for democrats who have to paint this administration as wicked and wrong to win power here. This article is typical of the malicious stance that the media has taken on this administration. It is wicked and wrong. "

Wat Tyler wrote on Oct 13, 2007 10:48 AM:

" Buried in the next to the last paragraph, Sanchez offers a hope of redemption. He says that withdrawal is not an option. What is sad and pathetic is the language of this reporting, the bitter tone, the cynical acceptance of the glass-almost-empty philosophy of a loser. When that scoundrel, FDR forcd us into WWII, we endured month after month of dismal news, battles lost, ships sank, islands conquered, and the countries overru, but never did the newspapers of the greatest generation preach defeatism like today. Failed war? Sanchez has no concept of a failed war, he doesn't recognize success when it stares him in the face. He sees the unsutanable insurrection as an insurmountable obstacle, when it is just a political argument that the democrats use to beat up this administration. Sanchez, promoted to General by the Clinton Administration during peacetime, was overwhelmed and out of his element in Iraq and blames others, rather than his own limitations. Proof, in my opinion, that hi subsequent failure to be promoted, was deserved. "

to Wait a minute wrote on Oct 13, 2007 10:32 AM:

" The Republicans will never sit down with the Democrats and work to end the war. The Republicans are a sinking ship at this point and they're going to take everyone with them that they possibly can. Even if they did sit down and hammer out a solution, Bush would never get credit? Why? Well, to get it through, they'd have to override his veto. "

The rest of the story wrote on Oct 13, 2007 10:30 AM:

" Why wasn't the General's indictment of the press also reported?: Almost invariably, my perception is that the sensationalistic value of these assessments is what provided the edge that you seek for self agrandizement or to advance your individual quest for getting on the front page with your stories! As i understand it, your measure of worth is how many front page stories you have written and unfortunately some of you will compromise your integrity and display questionable ethics as you seek to keep america informed. This is much like the intelligence analysts whose effectiveness was measured by the number of intelligence reports he produced. For some, it seems that as long as you get a front page story there is little or no regard for the "collateral damage" you will cause. Personal reputations have no value and you report with total impunity and are rarely held accountable for unethical conduct. "

Sad and Pathetic wrote on Oct 13, 2007 9:36 AM:

" This is sad and pathetic. Take all americans out of IRAQ and let them deal with their own stuff, it is not our loved ones responsibility for whats going on! "

Ha! wrote on Oct 13, 2007 8:48 AM:

" FIRST! "

Max wrote on Oct 13, 2007 8:47 AM:

" How many Generals have to say it? We have Odom, Battiste, Scowcroft, Hoar, Zinni, Clark, Shinsecki, to name a few. Now Sanchez. Even Casey said there was no military solution. But, we just keep plodding along so that this administration can get out of office like thieves in the night. "

Again wrote on Oct 13, 2007 8:42 AM:

" The liberal press plays politics! Sanchez, the new anti war replacement for the liar Kerry. "

BN Republican wrote on Oct 13, 2007 8:41 AM:

" Good. We can't stop until they're all Christian. "

Wait a minute wrote on Oct 13, 2007 8:41 AM:

" wasn't he one of the leaders? Besides this is probably only based on half truths like most criticisms of the war. I wonder if he also criticized the Democrats in congress for voting for this war in the first place or continuing to fund it. Why don't we just take politics out of it so we can end the war and get out of Iraq. Why don't the Democrats sit down with the Republicans and agree about how to end the war? Imagine that. Of course Bush would have to get credit and there is no way they would ever ever do that. I know people are always criticizing the war. Why don't we ask those criticizers to produce some positive ideas on how to end the situation not to make it worse as it what happened when we withdraw prematurely the first time we were there. "

Duke wrote on Oct 13, 2007 8:30 AM:

" Quick, someone call him anti-American. Come on ... you know you want to. "

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