WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- If he knew then what he knows now , he might have made some different decisions before the start of the Iraq war in 2003 , the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told reporters Friday . Outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace says he now thinks more troops were needed at the war 's start . `` One of the mistakes I made in my assumptions going in was that the Iraqi people and the Iraqi Army would welcome liberation , that the Iraqi Army , given the opportunity , would stand together for the Iraqi people and be available to them to help serve the new nation , '' Gen. Peter Pace said . But `` they disintegrated in the face of the coalition 's first several weeks of combat , so they were n't here , '' Pace said . Had he known that would happen , he would have recommended more troops be sent at the outset of the Iraq war , he said . In addition , Pace said , if he had been asked in January 2006 whether the United States should build up its Army and Marine Corps contingents in Iraq , he would have said no , because the plan at the time was to build and equip an Iraqi Army and turn over security duties to it . The force was built and equipped , Pace said , but the February bombing of the Golden Mosque -- one of the holiest Shiite sites -- ignited long-simmering tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims , further destabilizing the region and cutting short any plans for U.S. troop reduction . Thousands of people have died in reprisal killings and bombings since the attack . Still , Pace said , `` Given what I knew at the time , I 'm comfortable with the recommendations that I made . '' Any errors that were made are to be learned from , he added . Watch how Pace details the mistakes made at Iraq war 's start » . And he continued to voice his support for the Iraq invasion . `` Twenty-six million Iraqis have the opportunity now , '' he said . `` They are working their way through 3½ decades of being trod upon , held down , no opportunity at all for freedom of expression , for living their lives the way they wanted to , for picking [ their ] leaders . '' Pace will retire when his two-year term ends this month . Also Friday , Defense Secretary Robert Gates -- in his first public comments since President Bush announced Thursday night he was accepting the Iraq troop level recommendation of Gen. David Petraeus -- noted all Bush 's senior military advisers are in agreement with those recommendations . Gates said he asked Pace and Adm. William Fallon , the head of U.S. Central Command , to begin examining U.S. options in Iraq months ago , knowing that Petraeus -- the top U.S. commander in Iraq -- was doing the same . `` I wanted the president this month to have the benefit of more than one senior military voice as he considered the next steps in Iraq , '' Gates said . `` I also did not want Gen. Petraeus hanging out there all by himself . `` While the analyses of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , CentCom and Gen. Petraeus varied in emphasis and approach , all of the president 's senior military advisers are in full agreement with the recommendations made by Gen. Petraeus , '' he said . The United States ' next steps in Iraq , among other things , `` had to avoid even the appearance of American failure , '' Gates said . `` Extremist Islam was dramatically empowered by defeating the Soviet Union in Afghanistan . The first attack against us by the extremists , the World Trade Center in 1993 , was launched from Afghanistan just four years after the last Soviet soldier left there . `` Should the jihadists be able to claim a victory in Iraq over the United States , the sole remaining superpower , I believe it would empower them worldwide far , far more than their victory over the Soviets , '' Gates said . `` The regional consequences would be significant and highly destabilizing . '' E-mail to a friend .
Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman says he thought Iraqis would welcome liberation . Gen. Peter Pace continues to voice his support for the Iraq invasion . The U.S. military has been in Iraq since 2003 and is now preparing a withdrawal plan that will leave about 50,000 troops there after 2011. Defense secretary says Pace , other Bush military advisers agree with Petraeus .