Monday, October 15, 2007

An Apology to LTG (Ret) Ricardo S. Sanchez

'WHILE THE POLITICIANS ESPOUSE THEIR RHETORIC DESIGNED TO PRESERVE THEIR REPUTATIONS AND THEIR POLITICAL POWER -OUR SOLDIERS DIE! OUR NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IGNORED THE LESSONS OF WWII AS WE ENTERED INTO THIS WAR AND TO THIS DAY CONTINUE TO BELIEVE THAT VICTORY CAN BE ACHIEVED THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF MILITARY POWER ALONE. OUR FOREFATHERS UNDERSTOOD THAT TREMENDOUS ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CAPACITY HAD TO BE MOBILIZED, SYNCHRONIZED AND APPLIED IF WE WERE TO ACHIEVE VICTORY IN A GLOBAL WAR. THAT HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE THE KEY TO VICTORY 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. '
http://www.militaryreporters.org/sanchez_101207.html

I just knew I shouldn't have commented on the comments of this senior American officer without having read them first hand. The US media, in full propaganda mode, selected this mans words to make them appear to say the absolute opposite of what he intended by them. This is the behaviour of people on the same moral level as the Soviet propaganda merchants- people whose only concern is effect and never truth. Time and again the US media do this, and yet maintain that they are professionals with extremely high ethical standards. That is rot, and rot must be cleared out if democracy is to prosper and sustain itself.

Saying that, in this case the blame falls squarely on my shoulders for not having attempted to find out whether Ricardo Sanchez said what the media reported. I apologize unreservedly to him.

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