In just the last month, the “liberal” media has studiously ignored two revelations of extreme malfeasance by the Bush administration: First, that George Bush admitted that he and his most senior advisers willfully violated U.S. and international laws by drafting torture guidelines for CIA interrogators, and, second, that retired senior military officials hired as on-air “analysts” for television news organizations during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq knowingly made false statements during news broadcasts in order to bolster the administration’s bogus pretexts for war.

Now, in new book set for release next week, the former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq has accused the administration of the most serious possible charges short of treason in its handling of the occupation: gross incompetence and dereliction of duty. Unfortunately, if the past month is an indicator, there is no chance this dire allegation will lead the news on cable for even a single hour, or that it will be mentioned, even in passing, on the Sunday political shows this weekend.

In his new memoir, “Wiser in Battle,” which hits the shelves on May 6, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez offers this blistering assessment of the Bush administration’s handling of its misbegotten occupation of Iraq:

“Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty.”

The quote comes from an excerpt from the book published in Time Magazine. And here is a clue of what’s (not) to come: Raw Story points out that Time has chosen not to highlight the accusation, which was buried three pages into the story.

The fact is, “gross incompetence and dereliction of duty” are apt descriptions of everything the Bush administration has undertaken since it took office — from its horrendous response to Hurricane Katrina to its bungling of the U.S. economy, its ham-fisted international diplomacy, its blockheaded approach to domestic politics and on and on.

In fact, as cynical as it sounds, the truth is that the Bush team’s only real competence is in lying about its activities and smearing its opponents. That’s why, in the unlikely event this story were to find legs, we can expect loyal Bushies to flood the airwaves to remind viewers that Gen. Sanchez was their fall guy for the early failures in Iraq and, especially, the torture regime at Abu Grahib prison.

Right now, the White House political shop is undoubtedly working up a rigorous smear campaign against Sanchez. Luckily for him, the corporate media is bored with the Bush administration and the odds this story will get any notice lies somewhere between slim and none.