The general who commanded US-led coalition forces during Iraq's first year of occupation says America has no realistic path to victory. Retired Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, in his first public remarks since leaving the Army, said the best outcome achievable was avoiding outright defeat, contingent on better political decisions and stronger Iraqi leadership.
Sanchez placed part of the blame on early occupation decisions he had a hand in: dissolving the Iraqi army and barring Baath Party members from public employment. Both actions alienated Sunni Arabs and are widely seen as catalysts for the insurgency that followed. He also held command during the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and, though cleared by an Army inquiry, lost his expected promotion to four-star general as a result.
He called the failure systemic. "I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership," he said, making clear the indictment covered the full span of national political leadership, not only the Bush administration.
US Ambassador Ryan Crocker dismissed such assessments as premature, pointing to the troop surge launched in January as a strategy still taking shape. Retired General Barry McCaffrey, who recently toured Iraq, was cautiously pessimistic: he believed a wider civil war could still be prevented but said domestic American support for the war could erode within 36 months.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in June 2007, in its own words.