CHAPTER 37

The information in this chapter comes primarily from background interviews with 11 firsthand sources.

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On August 22, Bush spoke: Presidential Documents, August 22, 2007, pp. 1107ñ1114 (Vol. 43, No. 34), www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/v43no34.html.

Six days later, the president: Presidential Documents, August 28, 2007, pp. 1124ñ1131 (Vol. 43, No. 35), www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/v43no35.html.

On Thursday, August 24: NIE, "Prospects for Iraq's Stability: Some Security Progress but Political Reconciliation Elusive," August 2007, www.dni.gov/press_releases/20070823_release.pdf.

"We are the ones who saved our country,": Interview with Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha, June 3, 2008. See also Sterling Jensen, "Lessons from an Anbar Sheik," The Washington Post, September 29, 2007, p. A19.