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October 13, 2007 2:13 AM

The commander of the US forces in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, gave an interview to Stars and Stripes yesterday, and just laid into the Bush Administration's handling of this nightmare in Iraq:

"There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight. From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan, to the administration’s latest surge strategy, this administration has failed to employ and synchronize the political, economic and military power," Sanchez said.

He continued:

"There has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders. America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve 'victory' in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism," he said.

Without mentioning President George W. Bush by name, he called the president's troop-escalation "surge" strategy a "desperate attempt by an administration that has not accepted the political and economic realities of this war."

Who does he say deserves the most blame?

He aimed his sharpest attacks at the White House National Security Council, headed during his Iraq tenure by now-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "Our National Security Council has been a catastrophic failure," he said, blaming the council for adopting a strategy that overly relied on the military and failed to effectively mobilize the government.

Read the entire article from Reuters.