'On Point II' Takes Critical Look At Iraq

NPR

Published July 1, 2008 at 10:00 AM EDT

Earlier this week, the Army released its official history of the war in Iraq after the fall of Baghdad. Unlike many official histories, "On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign" is both candid and critical of senior officers and civilian leaders, and it also tries to explain how U.S. decisions contributed to the long, bloody conflict that followed.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top military officer in Iraq from 2003 to 2004; Gen. Jack Keane, former Army vice chief of staff; Col. Doug MacGregor, a consultant for the Straus Military Reform Project; and Donald Wright, author of On Point II: Transition to the New Campaign, talk about what went wrong and who was responsible.