Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, then-Commander of the ground forces in Iraq, wrote: “In April 2004, we walked away from two important military missions [offensive operations in Fallujah and efforts to capture/kill Iraqi theologian and political leader Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf]. And for what? So the Bush administration could retain power. The timing and potential repercussions of our actions had not been thought through beforehand. Had things gone terribly wrong in Fallujah and Najaf, or had the transfer of sovereignty been jeopardized, there would have been no time to recover before the November presidential election. And that was a risk the Bush administration was not willing to take.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle, Page 371