Ex-General Calls Iraq War 'Incompetent'

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the retied former commander of US forces in Iraq, didn't pull any punches yesterday when he launched a scathing assault on the administration's conduct of the war effort. Speaking to reporters, Sanchez called Bush's plans "unrealistically optimistic" and "catastrophically flawed," and decried the lack of "any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory," reports the New York Times.

Sanchez called the troop surge a "desperate" measure that won't stem what has become a "nightmare with no end in sight." The general is the most senior of several retired commanders to publicly attack the war effort, though his role in Iraq may be seen to undermine his credibility: As the US commander during the Abu Ghraib scandal, he was cleared of wrongdoing but was replaced and denied a promotion. (More Iraq pullout stories.)