Scathing criticism of the war effort in Iraq from retired Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez making headlines all over the place right now.

But it’s worth noting that there are some things to remember about this story though that the media - delighting in the opportunity to get in some digs at the Bush administration from someone as accomplished as Lt. General Sanchez - isn’t going to tell you.

First, remember that Lt. General Sanchez is now retired, and that his career pretty much ended with the Abu Ghraib scandal.  Sanchez feels he was scapegoated for that, so he has an ax to grind.

Meaning he’s not exactly the most objective source of analysis for the Bush administration’s performance on Iraq.  But you’ll notice this tid-bit of information isn’t brought up very prominently in the articles about his latest comments.

Second, why is it that we only hear from retired military commanders who are critical of the Bush administration and/or the war in Iraq?  The military has 876 general officers.  Counting retired general officers, that number has to be in the thousands.  Keep in mindthe what we, the non-military public, typically think of as a “General” is the four-star variety.  There are only 35 of them currently, eleven in the army specifically.  Lt. General Sanchez was one of 126 “generals” in the military while he served.

So why do we never hear from those retired Generals?  I have a feeling that, were they polled, most of them would probably (being the professionals they are) hold different opinions about what should have been done in Iraq, and what should be done now, but that almost none of them would hold a view as pessimistic and cantankerous as Lt. General Sanchez.

Third, Lt. General Sanchez has been widely criticized for having failed to recognize the growing insurgency in Iraq and for failing to put together a unified military effort, something that really wasn’t accomplished until General Casey took over in Iraq.  Those that have come after Lt. Gen. Sanchez’s tenure in Iraq have accomplished a lot more than he did, and his professional ego is no doubt smarting from it.

The bottom line is this: Lt. General Sanchez is, for the Bush administration, the equivalent of a spurned ex-employee.  His criticism of his former employer may or may not be valid, but before we buy into his arguments we should consider the source.