Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the US commander in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, tells us what he wishes he’d done differently. He shares his take on Abu Ghraib and the current state of affairs in Iraq in his new book, Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story.
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Comments [22]
Abu Gharib is a turning point in the US history. With this shameful incident, this country has lost its moral superiority among the nations in the world.Yet Sanchez and other chain of command have never accounted for their horrendous actions to the American people. Now, this men is talking as if everything happened without his knowledge. We are not so stupid as he saw us. Just before the scandal was erupted everyone knew that detainees were being tortured.
I'm proud of you Leonard. You stayed on top of the slippery snake.
I don't believe this guy at all. These official lies is what is destroying our country. This guy should be locked up.
Military Denial.
The biggest obstacle to peace and healing for not only our nation ... but the people of Iraq.
Something weird about forests & trees here. He sees some details but completely misses the overall picture.
Rummy wanted torture and Sanchez was the yes man to do it. These men have ruined lies and our reputation abroad. They say they love america and yet they spit in the face of George Washington
These are the same excuses muttered by the Nazi war criminals.
THIS GUY SHOULD BE IN JAIL!!!!!
Leonard - ask him about the amnesty I believe that Sanchez approved on allowing Army personnel to destroy all photographs from their cell phones, digital cameras, and hard drives after the scandal leaked. This was covered in Errol Morris' new documentary Standard Operating Procedure.
Keep your foot on his neck. Break the bastard.
Get out the water bucket... !
Weird....he does talk in a strange "present tense" manner.
I agree, this is disgusting. He is blaming the torture on the complexity of the situation.
Hw could everyone have been so clueless and still he sits here and evades reponsibility, as if this were happening in some foreign uncontrollable stuation. They panicked because they new the public would find out.
Can you ask this man if he feels the Bush administration misused the military and his service? If not ask him how he would feel if the war was for oil.
This guy is creepy. A 'real ' man would talk the truth when he screws up.
What a lame , whimpy excuse maker.
He doesn't seem to be a tad embarrassed about the fact the U.S. spends half a trillion dollars/year on military, which turns out to have been totally unprepared for the task at hand. It's not as though insurgencies are new. They're only about several millenia old. Disgusting.
Why, if Sanchez is such a military man, does he refuse to take responsibility for the torture even though he clearly upholds the the doctrine of the 'chain of command' which would clearly implicate him.
Shorter Sanchez: We knew what we were doing was stupid, but we had to do it anyway.
Why does he talk in the present tense? (Did it on CSPAN too, so it's not an accident.) Is he going to be like McCan who wants to refight the war until he wins it?
Yeah, Iraq is just like Grenada & Panama. And in case Sanchez hasn't noticed, Kosovo is still a basket case.
One CSPAN this morning, Sanchez said that he also thought "Mission Accomplished" in May 03. Gosh, I don't know anything about military, but I knew the U.S. lost the war the day the looting began. And if you read books by embedded reporters during the invasion, it's very clear that the insurgency was already underway as the U.S. troops rushed by. This guy must have no command of the obvious.
Cmon brian ask him tough questions...last time u had a high profiile war criminal in your midst (kissinger) he ate your lunch...ask him real queations don't let him clean his conscience on my dime
I served with LTG Sanchez for 5 years and I think the Army lost a great leader when they forced him to retire and I am glad to see him write this book and get his side of the story out.
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