The Generals Speak

Seven retired military leaders discuss what has gone wrong in Iraq

By PAUL ALEXANDER

The nineteen months since the war in Iraq began, some of the most outspoken critics of President Bush's plan of attack have come from a group that should have been the most supportive: retired senior military leaders. We spoke with a group of generals and admirals that included a former supreme Allied commander and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and they all agreed on one thing: Bush screwed up.

Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak
Air Force chief of staff, 1990-94

Adm. Stansfield Turner
NATO Allied commander for Southern Europe, 1975-77; CIA director, 1977-81

Lt. Gen. William Odom
Director of the National Security Agency, 1985-88

Gen. Anthony Zinni
Commander in chief of the United States Central Command, 1997-2000

Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy
Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence, 1997-2000

Gen. Wesley Clark
NATO supreme Allied commander for Europe, 1997-2000

Adm. William Crowe
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 1985-89