Former Iraq Commander: Bernard Kerik was 'a waste of time' in Iraq

By Stephanie Gaskell
Daily News Staff Writer

Monday, May 5th 2008, 4:00 AM

Sullivan/Getty

In book, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez slams ex-top cop Bernard Kerik's (below) service in Iraq as a waste of time.

The former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq took aim at Bernard Kerik in an exclusive interview with the Daily News Sunday, calling his efforts to train Iraqi police in 2003 "a waste of time and effort."

Retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top military leader in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004, blasted the former police commissioner for failing to produce results while Kerik was the interim minister of interior in 2003.

"I would be hard-pressed to identify a major national-level success that his organization accomplished in that time," Sanchez told The News a day before his new memoir, "Wiser in Battle" hits bookstores nationwide.

"He is a very energetic guy. He is very confident - overconfident to an extent - and he is very superficial in his understanding of the requirements of his job," Sanchez said. "His whole contribution was a waste of time and effort."

Sanchez, who was in charge during Saddam Hussein's capture and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, said Kerik put U.S. soldiers in danger many times by not telling the Army about his police operations.

"I went to see Kerik and asked him to knock it off," Sanchez writes. "'You're going to wind up in a firefight with our soldiers,' I said. 'We've got troops patrolling the neighborhoods, and if they see a group of unknown armed Iraqis show up, they're going to engage.'"

Sanchez said Kerik focused more on "conducting raids and liberating prostitutes" than training the Iraqis...[Open in new window]

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Rudy Ghouliani wanted Bernie to head the Dept. of Homeland Security. He recommended it to pResident Pissypants.

A ham sandwich could do a better job of running the country than anyone in the Bush criminal administration.

It truly is like they're a crime family.

I hope the next president, who I'm fairly certain will be a Democrat, doesn't stand in the way of the peoples desire for revenge. The criminals should have everything that they've stolen taken away from them & serve terms in prison. There should be no mercy. That will be congresses job.

In post WWII France they hung collaborators. They shaved the heads of skanks who slept with them so everyone would know.

Not a bad idea, but I'm willing to give congress a first chance to make things right.

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