Dave Mazzarella

Readers' Corner

Ombudsman Dave Mazzarella answers reader questions about Stars and Stripes.

Column: Sanchez sounds off on the press — and Stripes

Posted October 16th, 2007 by Dave Mazzarella
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Several former U.S. generals have spoken out about the status of the war in Iraq, but few have caused the waves that retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez caused with a speech on Oct. 12. Addressing a meeting of the Military Reporters and Editors organization in Virginia, the former top commander in Iraq started out by blasting the press, at some length. Then he took on his former employers at the Department of Defense, as well as the State Department, the White House and Congress.

Read the rest of the column here.
Read the full text of Gen. Sanchez's speech here.

General Sanchez and The Press

On October 17th, 2007 Col CBK says:

The remarks by Gen Sanchez about the Press were pretty much spot on. I give Stars & Stripes credit for reporting it and for doing a good and balanced analysis of the subject.This is in marked contrast to the the N.Y. Times, which gleefully reported Sanchez's remarks about the administration and Bush's incompetent performance , but ignored the negative comments about the media.
That there was so much coverage about Abu Ghraib is somewhat puzzling., It was, after all, a few soldiers out of 100,000+ who acted improperly, and was a relatively minor incident when compared with the magnitude of the entire war. Yes, it was wrong, and yes, the guilty should have been punished all the way up the Chain of Command...but, it was not the defining mark of our troops' conduct in the war_and certainly is not the only thing worth writing about.
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I lost all respect I had for this man

On October 21st, 2007 Dave Hamilton says:

Sanchez is no different than so many of these other so-called "leaders" who start blubbering after they fail to get their next star and get shelved. What needs to be shelved are these people's egos themselves. What the USA needs, both in its military and in its Congress, are people who aren't out a la Clark, Sanchez et al to satiate their massive egos, but rather people who are willing to do what is best for AMERICA without regard to pacifying all these other countries who could give a flying rat's butt about the United States.

If Sanchez thought the war was so flawed while he was in a position to do something about it, he should have had the moral courage to speak up then, plain and simple, instead of worrying about his next promotion. He might have even indirectly saved some soldiers' lives and limbs.

As for his comments about mistrusting the press, he was probably justified for the most part, especially as regards the disgusting so-called "mainstream" media. Just suffer through their one-sided news articles; their nauseous, hate-filled commentaries; and their letters to the editor (do they discard virtually all of the non-liberal ones they receive?) and it is crystal clear to anyone with a functioning brain what they are doing.

David B. Hamilton
Major, U.S. Army (Ret.)

General Sanchez

On December 12th, 2007 wally says:

The mainstream media can't be trusted.. The only place for the truth is Fox news, the Washington Times, and Rush Limbaugh. Everyone else are liars. Fox news has us in their highest regard. The republicans are also trustworthy. They were just misdirected when they tried to cut the VA budget. (I think the mainstream media got it wrong when they reported that. ) BTW I think the Stars and Stripes Ombudsman can be trusted somewhat also. But not as much as Sean Hannity.