LESSONS ENCOUNTERED

Hoffman and Crowther
Office, July 2006), available at .
50
Stephen D. Biddle, interview by Frank G. Hoffman, January 23, 2015.
51
Peter D. Feaver, interview by G. Alexander Crowther, November 18, 2008.
52
Dwight D. Eisenhower realized soon after he took office that “time was critical, but did
not see this as a reason for making a snap judgment. He wanted to make an informed
decision, which he thought would be possible only if a proper methodology was used.
He decided to conduct a systematic policy exercise that would review U.S. foreign policy
objectives and recommend a course of action. The exercise came to be known as Project
Solarium after the room in which Eisenhower made the decision to pursue it.” See Tyler
Nottberg, “Solarium for Today,” The Eisenhower Institute, available at .
53
Fred Barnes, “How Bush Decided on the Surge,” The Weekly Standard, February 4, 2008,
available at .
54
MNF-I Chronology, 264.
55
Ibid., 266.
56
Ibid., 275.
57
Ibid., 279.
58
Institute for the Study of War, “Operation Together Forward I,” available at .
59
MNF-I Chronology, 301.
60
Ibid., 305.
61
Ibid., 309.
62
Edward Wong and Damien Cave, “Iraqi Death Toll Rose Above 3,400 in July,” New York
Times, August 15, 2006.
63
“President Bush and Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq Participate in Press Availability,” The
White House, July 25, 2006, available at .
64
Ibid.
65
MNF-I Chronology, 319.
66
Iraq Study Group Report (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, December
11, 2006), 15.
67
Al Pessin, “U.S. Acknowledges Baghdad Security Plan in Trouble,” 51VOA.com, October
19, 2006; Institute for the Study of War, “Operation Together Forward II,” available at
.
68
Feaver, interview.
152