John Batiste

In 2006, Batiste testified before the U.S. Senate where he criticized Donald H. Rumsfeld for a lack of leadership, And the failure of the Bush administration to develop a comprehensive strategy to deal with worldwide Islamic extremism with clearly defined goals. He said Rumsfeld "surrounded himself with like-minded, compliant subordinates who violated basic principles of war and sound military planning in the mission to change the regime in Iraq", and that the country "rushed to war without exhausting all diplomatic, political and economic options".[7]

Batiste said, on CBS's The Early Show:[4] "...we went to war with a flawed plan that didn't account for the hard work to build the peace after we took down the regime. We also served under a secretary of defense who didn't understand leadership, who was abusive, who was arrogant, and who didn't build a strong team."

Batiste also said: "I think the current administration repeatedly ignored sound military advice and counsel with respect to the war plans."[8]

Regarding the idea of a "war-czar" post in president Bush's U.S. government cabinet, Batiste commented: "Standing up a war czar is just throwing in another layer of bureaucracy. Excuse me, but we have a chain of command already and it's time for our leaders to step up and take charge."[9]

Batiste appeared on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in April 2006. When asked about his proposed strategy for Iraq, he said, "Well, to begin with, I think we must complete the mission in Iraq. We have no option; we need to be successful and protect our strategic interests in the region; we need to set the Iraqi people up for self-reliance with their form of representative government that takes into account tribal, religious, and ethnic complexity that has always defined Iraq. The Brits had a difficult time with that in the '10s and '20s of the last century; nothing new at all. And we must set the people of Iraq up for self-reliance so they can go on it on their own. I think we're going to be successful. There's nothing this country can't do, if we put our mind to it, but we need to do it right. We need to mobilize this country and employ a comprehensive regional and global strategy."[10]

In May 2007, Batiste appeared in a political ad for VoteVets.org that was critical of President George W. Bush and the Iraq War. Two days later, CBS stated that appearing in the ad violated the network's regulations, and terminated his contract as a result.[11][12][13]

In testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives in June 2007, Batiste said, "Secondary interests are that our withdrawal cannot create a humanitarian disaster or an Iraq dominated by another state(s) in the region. This may require a residual force of up to 30,000 US troops for decades to protect the US mission, train and advise the Iraqi security forces, provide a counter balance to unintended consequences of Iran and a greater "Kurdistan", and take direct action against residual Al Qaeda in Iraq. We cannot walk away from our strategic interests."[14]

In late 2007, he asserted that the military alone would not be successful in Iraq. On December 8, 2007, Batiste co-wrote an editorial in the Washington Post stating, "Third, the counterinsurgency campaign led by Gen. David Petraeus is the correct approach in Iraq. It is showing promise of success and, if continued, will provide the Iraqi government the opportunities it desperately needs to stabilize its country. Ultimately, however, these military gains must be cemented with regional and global diplomacy, political reconciliation, and economic recover—tools yet sufficiently utilized. Today's tactical gains in Iraq—while a necessary pre-condition for political reconciliation—will crumble without a deliberate and comprehensive strategy". He argues that at the moment, such a strategy does not exist.[15]