CHAPTER 8

The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 11 firsthand sources and contemporaneous notes by two participants.

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A dozen top congressional Democrats: Press release, Senator Harry Reid's office, "United House, Senate Democratic Leadership Put Forward Concrete Plan for Change of Course in Iraq," U.S. Federal News, July 31, 2006, accessed via Nexis.

On August 1, a roadside bomb: Joshua Partlow and Saad al-Izzi, "Attacks Target Iraqi Soldiers and Police; Dozens of People Die in Series of Shootings, Blasts," The Washington Post, August 2, 2006, p. A11; Damien Cave, "The Struggle for Iraq: Violence," The New York Times, August 3, 2006, p. A13.

Their first session: This study group session with Frist and McConnell is based on dictated notes from the Iraq Study Group's record, dated August 2, 2006.

The next meeting: This study group session with Warner and Levin is based on dictated notes from the Iraq Study Group's record, dated August 2, 2006.

The study group members headed: This study group session with Abizaid is based on dictated notes from the Iraq Study Group's record, dated August 2, 2006.

The next day, August 3, Abizaid testified: Congressional Quarterly Transcriptions, "U.S. Senator John Warner Holds a Hearing on Iraq, Afghanistan and Counterterrorism," Senate Armed Services Committee, August 3, 2006, accessed via Nexis.

On Friday, August 4, Rice appeared: State Department transcript, Interview on MSNBC's Hardball with David Gregory, August 4, 2006, www.state.gov.

The next morning, Saturday, Rice left: Author's review and notes of Rice's schedule.

In an interview two years later: Interview with President George W. Bush, May 20, 2008.

She voiced optimism and disagreed: State Department transcript, interview on NBC's Meet the Press with Tim Russert, August 6, 2006, www.state.gov.

On Monday, Bush and Rice: State Department transcript, "President Bush and Secretary Rice Discuss the Middle East Crisis," Crawford, Texas, August 7, 2006, www.state.gov.

At a political rally in Lancaster: Presidential Documents, August 16, 2006, p. 1463 (Vol. 42, No. 33), www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/v42no33.html.