Interesting. The interviews obviously predate the release of the documents, and I get the feeling that everybody felt that they were free to apply heavy spin without fear of contradiction. The Pentagon was particularly blatant in its spin:

That could all have been done in advance. It wasn't done in advance, and it was largely the resistance of the State Department and the CIA that prevented it. If it had been up to the Defense Department, we would have had such a structure in place.

I couldn't find a date for the interviews, but in 2006 I sure wouldn't want to make a claim like that, not after the release of the documents that flatly contradict it.

Then one of the exiled Iraqis, who evidently was wooed away to the Pentagon faction, claims that State didn't want to touch the question of establishing a democracy; contradicted by the largest section of the report, at 212 pages, "Democratic Principles and Procedures".

Then State gets to weigh in, and of course they're excruciatingly polite and don't quite come out and point fingers, even though somehow the message gets across.

Basically, nobody comes out of this looking good. The average of all the bullshit is simply a pathological turf war that betrayed the interests of the US and Iraq.

Thanks for the additional viewpoints, Tom.