Former Iraq commander Sanchez calls out pols

[unhappycamper]

Former Iraq commander Sanchez calls out pols
By Elizabeth White - The Associated Press
Posted : Sunday Sep 23, 2007 14:10:15 EDT

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said Saturday there is a “crisis in national political leadership” and that partisanship is preventing a strategy that would help the U.S. take on the threat of Islamic extremism.

Sanchez, who spent a tumultuous year as the top U.S. commander in Iraq, made the remarks at a veterans summit sponsored by U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Corpus Christi Democrat.

About 200 veterans and their families attended the event. They gave Sanchez a standing ovation and mobbed him afterward for autographs.

“My assessment is that we have a crisis in national political leadership,” Sanchez said. “When will America recognize the danger we face? When will the corrosive partisanship of American politics end and allow for a bipartisan solution to arguably the most dangerous threat our nation has faced in over 60 years?”

After his speech, Sanchez wouldn’t name names, but told The Associated Press he was referring to “the most senior leadership in our nation.”

“We have failed as a nation to bring together a grand strategy and that is creating a large part of the difficulty we face in this current war effort,” he said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/09/ap_sanchez_070923/