A messenger for the desperate for defeat Dems

Jack Kelly:

In his weekly radio address, President Bush gave thanks for American servicemen "who risk their own lives to keep us safe."

Democrats chose retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez to deliver a rebuttal.

"I saw firsthand the consequences of the administration's failure to devise a strategy for victory in Iraq that employed, in a coordinated manner, the political, economic, diplomatic and military power of the United States. That failure continues today," he said.

LtGen. Sanchez endorsed the Democratic measure pending in Congress to condition continued funding for the war on a timetable for troop withdrawal.

"Although we cannot withdraw precipitously from Iraq, we must move rapidly to minimize our force presence," he said.

Martin Peretz of the New Republic suspects Democrats want to withdraw troops from Iraq quickly because they don't want to win there.

"I suspect that so many Democrats are so deeply hostile to a forward foreign policy and their minds so deeply embedded in the notion that you can negotiate successfully with fanatics and tyrants that they wouldn't mind a prophylactic victory for the enemy," he wrote Monday.

If you want to lose a war, who better to deliver that message than a loser?

...

Historian Victor Davis Hanson likens Gen. Sanchez to other "whistleblowers" such as former CIA officer Michael Scheuer and former National Security Council staffer Richard Clarke who were failures at their jobs.

"In all these cases there is a dismal pattern: a mediocre functionary keeps quiet about the mess around him, muddles through, senses that things aren't going right, finds himself on the losing end of political infighting, is forced out or quits, seethes that his genius wasn't recognized, takes no responsibility for his own failures, worries that he might be scape-goated, and at last senses that either a New York publisher or the anti-war Left, or both, will be willing to offer him cash or notoriety -- but only if he serves their needs by trashing his former colleagues in a manner he never would while on the job," Mr. Hanson said.

Sanchez statement about the lack of a plan condemns himself and his staff. It also is an attempt to avoid responsibility. It is an attempt at upward delegation of responsibility for plan. President Bush did not come up with the counterinsurgency plan used by Gen. Petraeus. It was devised by Petraeus and his staff.

Presidents can tell the military they want certain objectives taken and want certain results, but it is up to the military to devise the plans to achieve them. this is where Sanchez failed the President and the country and he is now trying to blame the President for that failure.

It may work with the Democrats who want President Bush to be blamed for everything that goes wrong while they ignore all that goes right. It will not be accepted by history and Sanchez is putting himself in the ranks of other failed generals like McClellan who would not take responsibility for his failures and sought political validation instead.