Iraq invasion a mistake, ex-general tells Brown University audience

Ex-Lt. General William E. Odom, a former director of the National Security Agency, says U.S. troops should withdraw as soon as possible.

Saturday, April 8, 2006
BY PETER B. LORD
Providence Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- The U.S. invasion of Iraq may be the biggest strategic mistake in U.S. history, a retired general and international-intelligence expert said here yesterday. He argued that we still haven't seen the worst consequences.

Ex-Lt. General William E. Odom, a former director of the National Security Agency under President Reagan, who also served in top posts for President Carter, gave a speech for Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies that forecast little positive news for the United States.

The best course of action is to withdraw from Iraq as quickly as possible, Odom said. The longer the United States stays, the more terrorists it creates.

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