Kenneth M. Pollack

A former director of Persian Gulf affairs at the National Security Council and a fellow at the Brookings Institution

What matters most now is not how we entered Iraq, but how we leave it.

What I most wish I had understood before the invasion was the reckless arrogance of the Bush administration. I had inklings of it to be sure, and warned of the inadequacy of some of what I saw. But I did not realize that as skillfully, cautiously and patiently as the George H. W. Bush administration had handled its Gulf War, how clumsy, careless and rash George W. Bush's administration would treat its own.

Paul D. Eaton

A retired Army major general who was in charge of training the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004

My greatest surprise was the failure on the part of Congress to assert itself before the executive branch. That failure assured continued problems for the military in the face of a secretary of defense who proved incompetent at fighting war.

Had Congress defended the welfare of our armed forces by challenging the concentration of power in the hands of the president, the vice-president and the secretary of defense, our army and marine corps would not be in the difficult position we find them in today.

The Republican-dominated Congress failed us by refusing to hold the necessary hearings and investigations the army desperately needed.

Without hearings, the Army could not advance its case for increasing the number of troops and rearming the force. The result is an army and marine corps on the ropes, acres and acres of broken equipment, and tour lengths of 15 months because we have too few troops for the tasks at hand.

(China Daily via The New York Times March 19, 2008)