The former top US commander in Iraq has said that a catastrophic failure within the country's National Security Council has wedged the US in a conflict with no end in sight.
The assessment by retired Lt Gen Ricardo Sanchez is one of the harshest yet by a top military leader involved in the war.
Gen Sanchez said that there has been a glaring, display of incompetent strategic leadership from the country's leaders, adding that the best the US could manage under the current approach in Iraq was to stave off defeat.
Gen Sanchez commanded the US-led coalition in Iraq from 2003 until July 2004.
