Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LT. GEN. RICARDO SANCHEZ (RET.), FMR. U.S. COMMANDER IN IRAQ: Continued manipulations and adjustments to our military strategy will not achieve victory.
The best we can do with this flawed approach is stave off defeat.
There has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders. As the Japanese proverb says, "Action
without vision is a nightmare." There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.
and then Blitzer says "Now, he speaks with some authority. He was the commander right after the collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime. What do you say?"
GRAHAM responds "I'm astounded, really. I was in Baghdad several times when he was in charge. I was there the day the U.N. facility was bombed, killing the U.N. diplomat. And I asked him every time, "Do we have enough people here?"
Senator McCain was an early critic of the strategy of not having enough troops on the ground. And every time we talked to General Sanchez, we got pushback, we
have enough troops, guard and reserves aren't being strained.
I appreciate his service, but Abu Ghraib got out of control under his watch, the war in general got out of control under his watch. And it's not time to blame people, but his criticism is a bit astounding to me given his role in the war itself."
BLITZER "And the criticism doesn't just stop there. Let me play yet another clip from what he had to say. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism.
From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan to the administration's latest surge strategy, this administration has failed to employ and synchronize its political, economic and military power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Graham blames Sanchez' remarks to his own incompetence, other factors, anything other than W and Blitzer says "are you suggesting that this criticism that we're now hearing from General Sanchez is what? Payback time because he was denied a fourth star as a result of the investigation of Abu Ghraib?" and gives himself enough rope to strangle himself as Graham blurts out "It's not time to look backward, it's a time to look forward. And what I'm looking for is a political breakthrough in Baghdad to coincide with the security provided by the surge. And I hope the Maliki government will step up to the plate and do something meaningful by the end of the year. And if they don't, I'm going to have a very different view about their capability of reconciling the country."
To which BLITZER responds "Because you told Time magazine the other day -- I'm going to read the quote and I want you to elaborate on what you said. You said, "If they don't pull it together in the next 90 days, I don't think they are ever going to do it. If they don't deliver in 90 days, I will openly say the chances for political reconciliation are remote."
All right. So what does that mean? They've got three months to get the job done?
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