Lt. Gen. William Odom: Bush Should Sign Iraq Bill

Retired General: Bush Should Sign Iraq Bill

KASIE HUNT | AP | April 28, 2007 07:54 PM EST

WASHINGTON - President Bush should sign legislation starting the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq on Oct. 1, retired Army Lt. Gen.
William Odom said Saturday.

"I hope the president seizes this moment for a basic change in course
and signs the bill Congress has sent him," Odom said, delivering the
Democrats' weekly radio address.

Odom, an outspoken critic of the war who served as the Army's top
intelligence officer and headed the National Security Agency during
the Reagan administration, delivered the address at the request of
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. He said he has never been a
Democrat or a Republican.

The general accused Bush of squandering U.S. lives and helping Iran
and al-Qaida when he invaded Iraq.

"The challenge we face today is not how to win in Iraq; it is how to
recover from a strategic mistake: invading Iraq in the first place,"
he said. "The president has let (the Iraq war) proceed on automatic
pilot, making no corrections in the face of accumulating evidence that
his strategy is failing and cannot be rescued. He lets the United
States fly further and further into trouble, squandering its
influence, money and blood, facilitating the gains of our enemies."

Odom said he doesn't favor congressional involvement in the execution
of foreign and military policy, but argued that Bush had been derelict
in his responsibilities. This week Congress passed an Iraq war
spending bill that would require Bush to begin withdrawing troops from
Iraq on Oct. 1.
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ACCOMPANYING PHOTO: Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom speaks during
a forum in Washington in this Jan. 12, 2007, file photo. Odom, an
outspoken critic of the Iraq war who has served as the Army's top
intelligence officer and headed the National Security Agency, said
President Bush should sign legislation starting the withdrawal of U.S.
troops from Iraq on Oct. 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)
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