#107031 by Robert Giacobbe on 10/14 at 11:21 am: “Your post is humorous.  Never has anyone used the adjective “limply” or “depressed” to describe this Sicilian.  Quite the contrary… if you were here in person I would explain it to you in exquisite detail.  Come visit us in South Philly and you’ll understand…....”

Uhh, this is nothing “personal”, Robert G. The “explanation” is that I did “leapfrogg off your comments” as a means of simply making the point. That should not hurt you in the slightest and I do hope that you will continue to “get out there and do something about it”.

But thanks for the invitation to visit anyway. Perhaps after your “understanding of the human condition” has improved to take in some sophistication in debate, huh…..

Mr G
And a good approach that is.

Robert Giacobbe, you’ve got my vote.
All of us need to do more. While I’ve enjoyed reading Mr.Chalmer’s posts, frustration prevails for many of us that we’re simply not doing enough.

As far as Sicilian’s, they’re a very old and wise club. They have an remarkable understanding of the human condition, based on the hipocracy and contradictions of the many cultures that made it their home.

Re: Reason
“If it shortens the war by one hour, it will have been worth it”

Thats the problem; by delaying so long the ‘shock value’ of his comments is greatly lessened.
Too many of the ‘hawks’ will see him as a General who “allowed” the prison scandal, and thereby dismiss anything he says.

Had he resigned and made his case, it just might have led to some in Congress to change their mind.

What do you people want????? General Sanchez has spoken out! Some of you say he should have spoken out earlier and criticize his character for trying to preserve himself. Falling on his sword would not have changed anything! Be glad he spoke out now! It is more than many have done. And if it shortens the war by just one hour it is worthwhile.
THANK YOU GENERAL SANCHEZ!

#106918 by Robert Giacobbe on 10/13 at 10:15 pm: “...What have I missed? ....It really disturbs me, makes me physically sick, that Bush, Cheney, Powell, Tenet, Rice, Wolfowitz & Rove will never be held accountable or punished for this tragedy….”

Well, get out there and start doing something about it, RG! Begging some self-serving politician is not going to change anything. Waiting limply for Hillary, Kucinich or Ron Paul do do it all for you won’t succeed, either.

Nothing will change without your efforts (note the plural!). Sincerity must be followed up with YOUR determination if concepts of a better way are to be grounded in ACTION. The alternative, of course, is your chronic illness (depression?) from making yourself “physically sick”, uhhh…..

Rowman: They hate you because you are an infidel who does not believe what they do.

And you hate them because they are heathens who believe in Allah and not in Jesus-God.

Oh, pardon me, you’ll say you hate them because they are murderers or because they attacked us… something like that. Yeah, right.

Non-Credo, it is as simple as who pays. You and I pay to clear the way for the giant corporations to loot, rather than pay a reasonable price to the people of another country for their resources. That is what makes it possible for the CEO to make an obscene amount of money and there to be lots of loot for the banks and other investors.

The General says that he couldn’t speak out while on active duty.
He is right that he couldn’t refuse to obey an order. But he did have the option of resigning his commision rather than be part of this mess.
The troops on the ground can’t resign. They have to wait until their enlistment is up to get out. That is provided that their service branch hasn’t declared their position “essential” and frozen discharges.
Too many of our Military leaders have forgotten Duty Honor Country, the motto of West Point.
Like Sanchez, they wait until they have the retirement aced, then they find their spine and speak out.
While I appreciate his doing so now, it would have meant much more…and just might have swayed some Congress Critter’s into opening their eyes…had he done it in the beginning.

#106865 by rowman on 10/13 at 4:22 pm: “...Oil…. and the middle east has the majority of it. Does not matter if Israel was there or not. You should be thankful they are as they have been a valuable ally in a region that hates us….”

Rubbish, ‘rowman’. “They hate you” because the USA was going to “take out seven countries in five years” - see Wesley Clark’s new memoir http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18544.htm The fact that Wolfowitz was one of the planners was incidental, of course, uhh.

Oil is/was NOT the core issue so much as demanding that countries trade their oil for $$US. That effectively gives America hegemony over them and the oil - because only the USA prints $US. Saddam was bucking the trend…..

Neither is oil “critical to our national defense” as all of these nations were and are willing to participate in free trade.  And, as a state desperate to control its own oil and water supplies in the region, Israel is NOT a “valuable ally” in any sense unless you intend to set out to cause trouble - and that is exactly want the Bush Neocons did! Israel is merely a dog in the Middle East manger.

The garbage about “their “god” will not return” is the sick motivation of the USA’s own Christian Zionists. They, like Bush and his buddies, come from Texas. They are the WASP invaders of Spanish America and the usurpers of the lands of the true Americans. Attacking and invading and stealing is nothing new to them!

The war was initiated on behalf of Israel? Conspiracy theories are out of control. Why not blame the British? Or the little green men?

Oil. Critical to our national defense and the middle east has the majority of it. Does not matter if Israel was there or not. You should be thankful they are as they have been a valuable ally in a region that hates us.

They hate you because you are an infidel who does not believe what they do. As long as you don’t, their “god” will not return. Eliminating you by death or conversion will hasten his return.  That is their goal.

War, unfortunately, is real and necessary especially when faced with this type of fanaticism that threatens our oil supply. Don’t like it? Stop consuming oil, die or convert to their religion. Those are your options.

George W. Bush personifies the most malevolent, irredeemable and unholy aspects of mankind. Not only is he purposefully dishonest, knowingly destructive and shamelessly unremorseful, he defends his indefensible evil actions by hiding and perpetuating the destructive and deadly impact they have on the lives of innocent and defenseless human beings. Hundreds of thousands of guiltless men, women and children who never harbored a harmful thought toward another human being have been killed and crippled as a result of George W. Bush being the president of the United States of America. And his overriding priority is to perpetuate the carnage, not end it. He is an undeniable example of what man is capable of doing to his fellow man. The worst example possible!

So the rumors are true, Bush is incompetent. You know I had my suspicions, but I am not a general. 

Unaccountability from both houses and the White House make for consistency. Death is no stranger to our government, usually the military complex needs to make some money, so lets pull out the cannon fodder. Let’s start a war someplace, like Iraq.  Yes plans of deception will work quite well on this one, rolling in the dough now!

Generals can be used as cannon fodder, and do not like wasted troops. Bush has changed generals like Hillary changes her mind.

The Loons are running the county or is it the other way around.

Dear rowman:

Once you put profanity in your comment, it ceases to mean anything… you just look like a moron.  As for Sanchez, he joins a crowd of many retired generals who say the war is being waged poorly.  Reminds one of Vietnam.

Paolo, I agree with your latest post.  I think it is inevitable that most Americans won’t feel so confident about the righteousness of any proposed US military interventionism in the future. I myself have been guilty of that attitude in the past, perhaps because I grew up during the final twenty years of the Cold War when it seemed clear to me that the USA was protecting the world from the ‘Evil Empire’ of the Soviet Union.  I like to think I am growing less naive with age, and I am hopeful that the Iraq war will force a re-examination of what true ‘patriotism’ means, for more Americans.

So. He is disgruntled. What do you expect him to say? He fucked up and is looking to blame someone in the administration. He was the general and looks like an ass. Don’t be so quick to endorse him or give him credibility.  Also from the article…

“But his own role as commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal leaves him vulnerable to criticism that he is shifting the blame from himself to the administration that ultimately replaced him and declined to nominate him for a fourth star, forcing his retirement.”

“General Sanchez has been criticized by some current and retired officers for failing to recognize the growing insurgency in Iraq during his year in command and for failing to put together a plan to unify the disparate military effort, a task that was finally carried out when his successor, Gen. George W. Casey Jr., took over in mid-2004.”

“Michael E. O’Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, criticized General Sanchez for implying in his speech that the current military strategy of relying on additional troops and on protecting the Iraqi people is little different than the strategy employed when he was in command.
Noting that calls by members of Congress for troops were rebuffed by the Bush administration in 2003, Mr. O’Hanlon said, “Sanchez was one of the top military people who condoned that, if not directly, then by his silence.”

Hi Frank,

Actually, I think I agree with you: to talk about “good guys” versus “bad guys” in wars is usually an over-simplification.

I used the term “bad guys” to describe the US occupational forces in an attempt to open peoples’ minds. There is a reflexive tendency on the part of most people to consider their guys the “good guys.” This is often expressed as “my country, right or wrong.”

I absolutely guarantee you that the Germans, invading Soviet Russia and killing millions, thought they were the “good guys.” This goes for both the soldiers themselves, and their supporters back home. Only a rare few were able to see through the fog and realize their guys were the “bad guys.”

This does not mean, however, that Stalin and the communists were “good guys.” I think this is the best analogy we have to Iraq. You’ll have to search far and wide for “good guys,” particularly if you’re looking for peaceful advocates of Jeffersonian democracy.

In many wars, all sides are “bad sides.”

Paolo, who are the good guys in Iraq?  Al Quaida in Iraq? The Sunni or Shiiite death squads?  Was Saddam the good guy?

Good guys vs. bad guys is a hopelessly simplistic and naive approach to try and frame the conflict in Iraq and those participating in it, or nearly any war for that matter.  Wars are not fought for ‘good’ or bad’, but for the interests of the parties involved.

Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the former top commander in Iraq, has issued a devastating critique of the “incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders” in planning and executing the Iraq war, which he called a “catastrophic failure.” Sanchez also warned that the president’s “surge” might “stave off defeat” but will not lead to victory.

Please define defeat…..

Over 3,000 American boys and girls who died in Iraq, lie in their graves, while we argue semantics.

They did not die for a political struggle in Iraq, but because of a political struggle here in the United States.

That political struggle is still on.

That political struggle is a search for the truth and a stuggle for the real.

All Americans owe General Sanchez a debt of thanks for his honest words and the risk he took to say them.

Because those who oppose the truth will stop at nothing to keep their political power.

“incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders” in planning and executing the Iraq war, which he called a “catastrophic failure.”

PAOLA has it correct ( I have quit using the word “right”, much like our great leaders quit saying French fries).

The good General isn’t bringing anything new to the table except the transparent revalation that Military careerists always tell those who hold their futures in their hands what they want to hear.

When bu$h stood on the bodies of the recently deceased in NYC with a bull-horn and a smirk on his face I told my wife that we were all in big trouble and it wasn’t the terrorists I was referring to.

The acts of the bu$h cabal are at worst treasonous and at the best, impeachable high-crimes and/or misdemeanors.

And where is the Democratic party? Why their in bed with the Military/Industrial complex naturally.

We need a serious third party.

I suggest Ron Paul and David Kucinich as running mates.

Lets put the fat cats back in the corrupted bottle from whence they came.

Well, even if he is retired, at least he finally spoke out. It will take a full-scale revolt amongst the generals and admirals at the pentagon, though, to stop the military-industrial complex in its tracks. They are the real blood-suckers.

All generals have read and studied “The Art of War” and neither the Chinese nor the European versions are anything at all like the sleaze-driven motivations of the Bush Neocons. Both Russia’s Putin and China’s Hu have a far greater understanding of both strategy and diplomacy.

Here is some recent history - Wake up, America! http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article15348.htm Victor N Corpus is a retired brigadier general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); former chief of the Intelligence Service, AFP; and holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

Its not so much that the USA is or was under any real kind of threat since the cold war era. As far as the Islamic nations are concerned, apart from the puppet dictators and military regimes, they have their own cultural agendas. One of those is the reestablishment of Khilafah, or Caliphate, an Islamic state in the Muslim world. It is not an aggressive movement, though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hizb_ut-Tahrir

The problem I have with the good general is that he criticizes Bush for “incompetence.” True enough, but Bush’s war against Iraq is insane, illegal, and unconstitutional, even if it is fought “competently.”

The Wehrmacht in WWII was also very “competent.” They accomplished “victories” that astounded the world before the sheer insanity of Hitler’s megalomania guaranteed their defeat. Competence in pursuit of an immoral goal is a vice, not a virtue.

The insane, neocon wet dream of making the Middle East part of Washington’s hegemony cannot yield good results, whether the military strategy is competent or not.

Hate to break it to you, but in this battle, our guys are the bad guys. We are the people who invaded a destitute third world country on false pretenses and outright lies. No matter how you rationalize our murderous foreign policy, we are the bad guys.

Nice article concerning the General and his remarks. But now comes the wacky insane comments bringing in Israel as the culprit for the cause of the Iraq war. Just an irrational charge.  Every single essay or article on this site brings in this false charge, no matter what the topic.  Bad enough for its falsehood. But to bring it in when it has NOTHING to do with the intent of the article shows the real agenda of the writers.

“There was been a glaring and unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders,” he said, adding later in his remarks that civilian officials have been “derelict in their duties” and guilty of a “lust for power.”
* With all due respect sir, you forgot to mention Treason.
* “The administration, Congress and the entire inter-agency, especially the State Department, must shoulder responsibility for the catastrophic failure, and the American people must hold them accountable,” General Sanchez said.”
* We’re trying sir, we’re trying. But nothing seems to be changing. I think a suggestion as to how to make that happen would be most welcome.

Thanks!