Jon Stewart to Gen. Sanchez: 'Now you tell us!' Mike Aivaz and Muriel Kane

Published: Wednesday October 17, 2007



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Print This Email This The Daily Show turned its attention on Tuesday to General Ricardo Sanchez, who commanded coalition forces in Iraq after the invasion but is now speaking out against Washington's policies. Jon Stewart began by showing clips from 2003 of Sanchez saying, "There is tremendous progress going on in Iraq. ... We're not in a quagmire. The progress is unbelievable." "I like the cut of his soundbite," said Stewart enthusiastically. "He's optimistic! Hey, what's he doing now?" He then played a current clip of Sanchez intoning, "There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight." "Apparently one of the medals General Sanchez received was for distinguished service in the art of bullshitting everybody," Stewart commented wryly. Stewart further showed Sanchez complaining that "there has been a glaring, unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders ... the National Security Council has been a failure ... there is nothing going on in Washington that would give us hope." "Why didn't you tell us this back then? demanded Stewart. He got his answer from another clip, in which Sanchez stated, "The last thing that you want is for currently serving general officers to stand up against our political leadership." "Let's look at Sanchez's hierarchy of bad things," Stewart summarized. "The worst thing ever? Standing up to political leadership. And that's preferable to -- uh, what's the phrase? -- 'a nightmare with no end in sight.'" General Ricardo Sanchez retired in 2006 after questions questions had been raised regarding his role in the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal. According to the New York Times, Sanchez's "own role as commander in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib scandal leaves him vulnerable to criticism that he is shifting the blame from himself to the administration that ultimately replaced him and declined to nominate him for a fourth star, forcing his retirement." The following video is from Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart, broadcast on October 16, 2007

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