Politics Creates Odd Pair: Sanchez and Democrats

According to Pelosi spokesman Brendan Daly, she approached Sanchez, speaking admiringly of the general's blistering October address to military reporters and editors, when he said the United States is "living a nightmare with no end in sight."

Three days before, the House had passed a $50 billion war spending bill that tied the money to a withdrawal timeline, stricter regulations for the deployment of only fully trained troops and an extension of constraints on abusive interrogations by the CIA. Pelosi asked whether Sanchez would deliver a Democratic radio address.

At first, Sanchez said he would think about it, Daly said. But Pelosi persisted. On Tuesday, he agreed. On Wednesday, he taped. On Saturday, he hit the airwaves, saying, "The funding bill passed by the House of Representatives last week, with a bipartisan vote, makes the proper preparation of our deploying troops a priority and requires the type of shift in their mission that will allow their numbers to be reduced substantially. Furthermore, the bill puts America on the path to regaining our moral authority by requiring all government employees to abide by the Army Field Manual on interrogations, which is in compliance with the Geneva Conventions. America must accept nothing less."

Daly said that Pelosi is well aware of Sanchez's war record, which she has criticized, but that she believes his war views have changed. Few other military leaders could speak as authoritatively about the conflict as Sanchez, he said.

Republicans, especially outspoken advocates of the ongoing increase of troops in Iraq, are not hiding their displeasure.

"I'm beyond perplexed," said Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who criticized Sanchez at Senate Armed Services Committee hearings in 2004. "He's chosen to play politics here. He's opened himself up to what happened on his watch. He's made himself a political figure, and I hope he understands that those of us who were on the ground watching at that time are going to push back."

Graham said that he repeatedly asked Sanchez in private whether he needed more troops to pacify the fledgling insurgency, and that Sanchez always said no. "He never said any of these things when it could have made a difference," Graham said of Sanchez's criticism.

But Democrats are sticking by their general. "Obviously, he was the general on the ground," Herrera said. "He knows the situation firsthand. No one is better qualified than him to deliver this message."