Sig Christenson of the San Antonio Express-News records the first interview with Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez since he retired last year. Sanchez was commander of all coalition military forces in Iraq from June 2003 to July 2004.

On the outlook in Iraq:

"I think if we do the right things politically and economically with the right Iraqi leadership we could still salvage at least a stalemate, if you will — not a stalemate but at least stave off defeat. It's also kind of important for us to answer the question, 'What is victory?', and at this point I'm not sure America really knows what victory is."

On who is to blame for mistakes in Iraq:

"I'm not going to answer that question. That's something I am still struggling with and it's not about blame because there's nobody out there that is intentionally trying to screw things up for our country. They were all working to do the best damn job they can to get things right."

We brought this on ourselves to some extent because of the abysmal performance in the early stages and the transition of sovereignty. We don't have anyone to blame but ourselves to any extent."

On U.S. leadership:

"I am absolutely convinced that America has a crisis in leadership at this time and we've got to do whatever we can to help the next generation of leaders do better than we have done over the past five years, better than what this cohort of political and military leaders have done."

As with any individual, Sanchez comes at the subject of Iraq with his own biases and motivations. Christenson does a good job of presenting those to readers as he wraps up the story:

Sanchez and Coalition Provisional Authority administrator L. Paul Bremer were the two most powerful officials in Iraq during most of the first year of the occupation.

Andrew Krepinevich Jr., a former aide to three defense secretaries, said many observers believe that neither man was up to the job. But retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, called Sanchez "a man of tremendous integrity," and said U.S. leaders left him in the lurch by withdrawing the forces he needed as the Sunni insurgency exploded.

While admitting mistakes, Sanchez said he was faced with an extraordinarily complex task over the 14 months of his command, which he termed the most crucial of the war.

Sanchez, who is considering writing a book, also would not say if Bush was engaged on major Iraq decisions during his time as the U.S. troop commander there, saying: "Good questions. More to follow."

He said there were misconceptions about his tenure and that the truth has been stifled by "many that have a vested interest," but did not elaborate when pressed to name names.

"My God, just look at what's happened to me," he replied. "A lot of people say, 'Well look, he's the devil who was involved in Abu Ghraib.'"