Gen. John Abizaid Speaks.

Virgil is a friend of ole John's. He was at the War College with him. The General, like Virg, is a bright straightforward guy. He says,

On President Bush's increase in troops in Iraq:

"It was clear that putting additional troops in would gain temporary security. What was not clear to me was what we were going to do diplomatically, economically, politically and informationally to make sure that we moved forward in a way that just wasn't temporary. And it appears to me, based on the testimony I heard, that those aspects, all designed to build better governments, haven't necessarily achieved the effect that people would have hoped for."

"All we would do is gain more military time without gaining what we really needed to gain, which is the government starting to come together as a government of national unity."

On U.S. shortcomings in the war on terrorism:

"Outside of military power, we have done very poorly in bringing the economic, political, diplomatic and informational power of the United States to bear on this problem thus far. I don't blame it on any people. I just blame it on a bureaucratic system that has been unresponsive thus far to challenges of the 21st century. We need to change that as a matter of national priority."