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What Else Did The General Say?
Posted by Raven on October 15th, 2007
So what else did Lt. General Sanchez have to say the other day? While he did bash the administration (for good reason) for it’s lack of good planning for this war in Iraq, he also said some other things not being talked about at the NYT.
WASHINGTON — The former top commander of coalition forces in Iraq may have called U.S. efforts there catastrophically flawed and unrealistically optimistic, but much of the criticism of the media by Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez has been left unreported.
In his speech to the Military Reporters and Editors Association in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Sanchez accused reporters of “unscrupulous reporting, solely focused on supporting an agenda and preconceived notions of the U.S. military.”
Without naming a specific company, Sanchez said “parent media organizations” have political agendas that direct the news coverage of the war and in some cases put U.S. service members in deadly situations.
“What is clear to me is that you are perpetuating the corrosive partisan politics that is destroying our country and killing our service members who are at war. My assessment is that your profession, to some, has strayed from these ethical standards and allowed external agendas to manipulate what the American public sees on TV, reads in newspapers and what they see on the Web,” Sanchez said.
I would have loved to have been there. The room must have had some red faces. Or maybe not- this is the media we’re talking about here. They have no ethic or shame.
October 15th, 2007 at 4:20 am
WOW Raven… another Wesley Clark? In Bosnia-Herzegovenia Gen. Wesley Clark almost started WW III with the Russians at the airport! Senaturd Hitlery Rotten Clinton, aka Her Thighness, will select Wesley for her VP because this wackjob thinks he’s another Dwight D. Eisenhower! Where have you gone Dr. Strangelove & The Bomb?
October 15th, 2007 at 8:35 am
I’ll agree with both you and Sanchez here. The so-called “liberal” media bears a lot of the responsibility for this debacle for their inaction in failing to fact check the statements of the Bushistas regarding terrorist ties and WMD’s, as well as their failure to challenge them on troop levels. As it turns out, Judith Miller of the so-called “liberal” New York Times was apparently just repeating Administration talking points verbatim, whereupon they would immediately turn around and claim it must be true because it was reported “independently” in the Times.
Of course, this is nothing new to readers of liberal blogs, who’ve been blasting the mainstream media for this for a few years now. Glad to see you’re coming around to our side, “Raven.”
October 15th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
this is nothing new to readers of liberal blogs, who’ve been blasting the mainstream media for this for a few years now
blah blah blah all I read for the news are (il)liberal blogs because they are so truthy!
/clueless J.D.
Congratulations, JD, you missed the whole point!
October 15th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
In the opinion of one of my dearest and oldest friends (a fellow retired Marine), “Sanchez is a jerk. I rather think he might have made a good Lance Corporal if limited to stacking BBs in a warehouse. Last time I checked he was the senior military guy on the ground during his tenure in Iraq. Lots of bad crap happened on his watch, including Abu Ghraib .”
Now as it happens, I’m getting ready to put up a piece about nobility. In my view, General Sanchez doesn’t have it. To me, Sanchez sounds a lot like sour grapes . . . he didn’t get his fourth star. He now wants everyone to imagine that the entire debacle is the administration’s fault – and I’m not suggesting that the administration is faultless. What riles me, however, is that an honorable leader – if inadequately supported by the administration, if truly opposed to the “game plan,” or if morally outraged by a lack of support from higher authority, resigning his commission was always a viable option. General Sanchez did not do that. We should infer, therefore, that while he was the senior commander in Iraq, all support levels were adequate, HIS game plan received the backing of Washington politicians, and HIS staff worked their butts off to give the general what he needed. Now, as I recall, all of the shortfalls that General Sanchez now addresses were “up to him,” again with emphasis on “field commander.”
Does the general, like Clarke have any political ambitions? Probably – but he won’t get my vote.
October 15th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
blah blah blah all I read for the news are (il)liberal blogs because they are so truthy!
Beth: Actually, I get most of my news from The Daily Show and Colbert. :D
In truth, I read about a dozen news sources every day, and don’t tend to automatically believe “news” stories on liberal blogs unless they provide a link to a primary source.
See, I understand, as you don’t seem to that there’s a difference between “news” and “opinion” and I recognize, as you don’t seem to, that blogs–liberal, conservative, and far right wingnut–are for the latter.
But feel free to project your own narrow-mindedness and ignorance on others. It’s more a reflection on you than it is on me.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Fox today mentioned Sanchez’s criticism of the media, but that criticism has gotten short shrift in most of the media. No wonder.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Beth just ignore JD- he’s a leftard. Of the worst kind. We call them KOOL AID drinkers.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Excellent assessment Mustang. Have any of the Generals and Lt. Generals resigned over this war? I don’t know of any off the top of my head but I am just getting off of working.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:19 pm
darth-
BWAHAHAH
Her thighness.
I lurve that. And will use it!!:twisted:
October 15th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
AOW the media doesn’t police itself. At all. So they wouldn’t know of their own biases. It’s a shame too- I do think Sanchez is correct in one thing: The risk the media has placed our military in is inexcusable. There are no overriding stories that should take precedent over the lives of those fighting in our services. None. The media is an enemy to any Republican administration.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
“Beth just ignore JD- he’s a leftard. Of the worst kind.”
This from the one who gets her knickers in a wad over “name calling”.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:43 pm
Yeah JD…you’re another tool.
I know you. And your lot. Like I said I used to BE ONE OF YOU. I know how you all think.
I am so ashamed of that too.
I really am.