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After hearing about this letter on Friday's NewsHour, I've been searching high and low for the text. As it turns out, the NYT has a copy. Before we get to its text, a brief history of its author's service:

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1922, General Vessey served in many different posts from Northern Africa and Italy in World War II to Vietnam and to Korea, where he was commander of U.S. Forces, U.N. Forces, and of the Combined (U.S. - Korean) Forces Command. He received a battlefield commission to 2nd Lieutenant at Anzio Beach in 1944. In 1979, he became Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan. After forty-six years of military service, Vessey retired from active duty in 1985, but continued to serve by returning to Vietnam as the Presidential Emissary to Hanoi for POW/MIA matters and as diplomat and advisor to three presidents. President George H.W. Bush awarded Vessey the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992. Vessey has been the chair of the Center for Preventive Action’s advisory board since its founding in 1994.

Here is the letter Gen Vessey sent this week to Sen. John McCain:

Bush has said time and time again that he will defer to the commanders on the ground when making military decisions. That claim, of course, has been a fiction, but it has been a valuable fiction, one that has allowed him to subtly deflect the blame for his failed policies onto our men and women who serve. But in this case, Bush has decided to make the fight his own, ignoring entirely the voice of military leaders both past and present. Success in Iraq was apparently not important enough make the responsibility his own, but torture? That's one he's willing to fight for until the end.