Re: What is the legacy of the Iraq war?

Description: When things don't go right, it's okay to change the equation.

Question: What is the legacy of the Iraq war?

Transcript: You have to make sure that the intelligence community does a better job. You have to ask them more questions and really probe how much . . . how well they know something is true.

Number two, you have to have a mission goal. And the mission of a . . . someone like Tommy Franks is not just to overthrow Saddam Hussein, but it’s to leave Iraq in a situation where it’s going to be a governing state. So a bigger perspective.

And number three. It is fine in any human endeavor to take in new information and to change the equation, and to keep improving things and not just a be a cheerleader. And I think that there is really no appreciation by Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, Vice President Chaney, or President George W. Bush to – things are getting worse in Iraq – change what we were doing there. Take this new information and deal with the realities. They were up in the clouds.

Recorded on: 7/2/07