Washington, D.C. ? A leading conservative proponent of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq now says dysfunction within the Bush administration has turned U.S. policy there into a disaster.

Richard Perle, who chaired a committee of Pentagon policy advisers early in the Bush administration, said had he seen at the start of the war in 2003 where it would go, he probably would not have advocated an invasion to depose Saddam Hussein. Perle was an assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan.

Asked about the article, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, “We appreciate the Monday-morning quarterbacking, but the president has a plan to succeed in Iraq and we are going forward with it.”