President Bush reacted to the deaths of four Blackwater contractors in
Fallujah in 2004 by proclaiming in a hastily arranged video conference
with officials that the United States would "kill" anyone who
threatened to derail the "march to Democracy" in Iraq, according to a
new book released last month by the former commander of US soldiers in
Iraq.
In the book "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story," Lt. Gen Ricardo
Sanchez writes that after the bodies of the four Blackwater contractors
were dragged through the streets of Fallujah in 2004 and hung off a
bridge Bush became unhinged.
In a video conference with national security and military officials
Sanchez writes that Bush said, "If somebody tries to stop the march to
democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than
hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We
can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal."
"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is
being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong!
Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe
them out! We are not blinking!"
Sanchez is highly critical of Bush's policies in his book, which he
first laid out during a speech last September at a veterans summit
sponsored Congressman Solomon Ortiz, a Corpus Christi Democrat.
"My assessment is that we have a crisis in national political
leadership," Sanchez said. "When will America recognize the danger we
face? When will the corrosive partisanship of American politics end and
allow for a bipartisan solution to arguably the most dangerous threat
our nation has faced in over 60 years?"
Sanchez received a standing ovation following his remarks.
But Sanchez also played a role in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal,
which has come to symbolize the U.S. as a nation that authorized
torture.
Sanchez has said he was simply acting on orders by Bush and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Specifically, Sanchez said an action memorandum, dated Feb. 7, 2002,
and signed by President Bush, that stated that the Geneva Convention
did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban led him to
institute a “dozen interrogation methods beyond” the Army’s standard
practice under the convention, according to a 2004 report on the
prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prepared by a panel headed by James
Schlesinger.
Sanchez said he based his decision on “the President's Memorandum,”
which he said had justified "additional, tougher measures" against
detainees, the Schlesigner report said.
Writings 
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