Contrary to retired CIA Ray McGovern, Odom's calls for withdrawl from Iraq have been widely reported. Heck, I've seen him on FoxNews and MSNBC. http://www.google.com/search?q=Odom+withdraw+iraq Wednesday, May 12th, 2004 Ex-National Security Agency Head Calls For U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Iraq http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/12/1420241 Odom: Bush Should Admit Iraq Is a 'Mess' And Make Plans for a U.S. Troop Pullout by Next Year http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=7006 February 02, 2005
The Lehrer News House with Lt. Gen. William Odom (Army, ret.) former director of the National Security Agency, and other guests, Feb. 2nd, 2005.
MARGARET WARNER: Gen. Odom, why don't you start off? Do you think this election that Iraq just had Sunday, should be treated as the opportunity to begin a quick withdrawal?
LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM (Ret.): Absolutely. And I would make that argument based on three major reasons, lines of argument.
First, it was not in the U.S. interest to invade Iraq. That tended to destabilize the region where stability should have been our goal. It turns out to have been very much in the interest of the Iranians, who, having been invaded by Saddam, were anxious for revenge.
It is very much in the interest of the al-Qaida, not only because it's made Iraq safe for al-Qaida to operate, but because it's diverted U.S. resources from campaigns against him.
It has exacerbated our relations with Europe, and it is slowly attriting and breaking our ground forces in Iraq.
MARGARET WARNER: So let me interrupt you there for a minute. So how quickly, if you were in charge, how quickly would you --
LT. GEN. WILLIAM ODOM (Ret.): I would leave -- I would leave as soon as I could. If its three months, six months, five months, a year, whatever is necessary to deal with the political niceties of the withdrawal is important.
But let me go ahead and make another very persuasive reason. The longer we stay, the worse it gets. We will not -- my second point is, any regime that consolidates power and can rule Iraq and keep it stable, will be anti-American and it will probably be some new form of tyranny.<SNIP> http://www.clw.org/iraq/archives/2005/02/gen_william_odo.html
Whatever the motives behind the intervention, it is a failure that must come to an end, according to many former military strategists. William Odom, Director of the National Security Agency in the eighties, describes Iraq as a "strategic disaster," the "sooner we leave, the better." Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, William Crowe, puts it bluntly: "we screwed up…we have got to get out."[vi] It was William Appleman Williams who strongly urged us to use such moments of "disaster" as an opportunity to refashion American adventurism. Iraq is fast becoming a monumental crisis that begs for an evaluation of the American empire. http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0130-12.htm
Anthony Cordesman: Leave within 2-3 years, declare no permanent bases CSIS' Anthony Cordesman testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 1, 2005. In his statement, he outlines "nine major mistakes" in what he labels "nearly two years of avoidable failures in US policy and leadership." [more] http://www.clw.org/iraq/archives/2005/02/anthony_cordesm.html
-- Michael Pugliese