Retired general blasts Bush on Iraq

WASHINGTON, May 13 (UPI) -- A former top Army commander is blasting President Bush's handling of Iraq in new ads on U.S. television.

Retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste commanded the First Infantry Division in Iraq and served 31 years in the Army.

He appears in ads being broadcast in Republican Congressional districts as part of a $500,000 campaign financed by VoteVets.org, an Internet-based veterans advocacy group, the New York Times reported Sunday.

"Mr. President, you did not listen," Batiste says in the ads. "You continue to pursue a failed strategy that is breaking our great Army and Marine Corps."

The White House responded to the ads through spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore who said, "We respectfully disagree."

Batiste was among the retired generals who called last year for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.