Explain something to me, please. The War on Terror isn’t simply a matter of defeating AQI and the insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban fighters and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, is it? Islamic terrorists are trained, supported, funded and reside throughout the Middle East, the Philippines, Africa, Russia and many countries of the former Soviet Union, Indonesia, the Balkans, etc. There are 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide. There are terrorist among almost all of these nations, why would we leave after we’ve achieved victory in Iraq?

What is this FIXATION with leaving Iraq? (For that matter, what was the fixation with leaving Viet Nam, where we went left in defeat?) We still occupy American military bases in Germany, Japan and Korea to this very DAY. That is what VICTORY is. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t a Democrat the Commander-in-Chief for those conflicts? Have Democrats forgotten how to win or just lost the courage to fight?

1SG, 24 years though I think I retired a little before you so I am not impressed that I heard it from a Senior Ranking NCO. SGMs with opinions are a dime a dozen. I know that our soldiers are not allowed to speak out to the media but you cannot tell me a general in charge of all the troops could not speak out to the COC and express his concerns. If you want to make an impact you write those concerns in a memo and send them up the chain. Then you keep your copy so later when they disavow you have proof.

I thing Sanchez did a good job of blasting all sides in this issue but I think doing it while we are in the middle of the war is hazardous to our troops.

I can tell you a damn thing and a bit more. Do not come here and call me stupid. And don’t act like you are the only NCO who talks to troops. I talk to them all the time and I get both ends of the issue (pro and con). Just because you lost your will do not insinuate that everyone else has. What we need to to is stabilize the place and get out. Guys like you are no better than John Kerry. You want to leave like Vietnam so we can be losers. Then, the next time the Muzzies act up and we need to go to war, others will have to go because people like you failed to complete the mission.

I have my issues with this president but if you feel Al Gore would have been better, they should take away whatever drugs they gave you.

And Shinseki was not against the war, he was against going in with too few troops.

It is no better than the first tour I was there. We are in a now win situation. We are going to be over there forever. We should never have gone over there. The Iraq people are split down the middle about whether they want us there or not. I will do anything to keep from having to go back to Iraq.

I can go on but I will stop there. What General Sanchez has done, is admit his butt was wrong for not speaking out earlier. A great general, General Eric Shinseki and several other generals retired quietly before this war began. They retired because the did not support this war and could not support are so-called president. In my 26 years I had never seen so many generals retire in such a short amount of time. None of those generals have come out and publicly criticize the war and to the best of my knowledge it ONLY has to do with supporting the soldiers by not saying anything. This president has made it impossible for anyone to speak their mind because he has sold so many people in this country on the idea that if you speak out against the war, you are speaking out against the soldiers.

Many of these generals make a lot of money speaking to groups, writing books, and other ventures. But none will speak out because of Bush and because of their concern for a continued success in making money other than their retirement.

Now you have heard it from a senior ranking NCO and you can read into that what you want to. It is just too bad no other generals have the intestinal fortitude to say enough is enough and come out and speak what they really feel.

I do not know what your rank was or how many years you served, but unless you were where I was at and where I am at now, you cannot tell me a damn thing.

Also you must be out of your mind if you believe this country had no better candidate than George W. Bush. He is a disgrace and I believe anyone, especially Al Gore would have made a better president than Bush. For now, no one, not even a Republican, would have been worse for this country than Bush. For those of you too stupid to see how bad this man is, I feel for you.

SGM (Ret) James S. Zapp, Jr.

We can debate all day about whether it was right to go into Iraq but we are there now and we must win.

As for the presidents, Clinton was disgraceful in more than just the Monica deal. Just in the spirit of fairness..

Also, we choose from what we have. Bush was a better choice than Gore or Kerry but certainly not the best choice in this country. We will not get regular people in there because both parties in the ruling class have set up a system to prevent it.

Then again, since he was in Command for some time, I also ask why he didn’t take the initiative and institute some of the policies he complains weren’t put forth. Seems General Petraeus has been at least somewhat able to do that.

Ulitmately, he does sound somewhat bitter. Instead of lashing out for being passed over for the fourth star, maybe he should follow the advice given for others and look within to see why.

But, he did make the inflammatory remarks and the only counter method I know of to to defuse them is to make known the harser criticisms he leveled againt the rest, especially the bitter partisanship within Congress instead of support for the Troops.

The media took out the part blasting them…

As usual, the left cherry picked a few sentences and totally missed th gist of the entire speech. In it, the first half is ripping the media apart. Although he has harsh words for the administration, Congress and both political party’s received their fair share as well. General Sanchez Speech

As we should expect, they left out a whole lot.