Posted on 09/04/2007 3:44:08 PM PDT by Shermy
The Skinny is Keach Hagey's take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.
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Just whose brilliant idea was it to disband the Iraqi army? The former U.S. boss of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, says President Bush knew about and supported his plans to dissolve Saddam's military, according to letters he released to the New York Times yesterday.
Annoyed that Bush was quoted in a recent book as suggesting that he had gone a bit Rambo out in the desert, Bremer disclosed his spring 2003 correspondence with the president.
The impetus for Bremer's action was Bush's interview with Robert Draper, author of the new book "Dead Certain," in which the president sounded as if he had been taken aback by the decision.
"The policy had been to keep the army intact; didn't happen," Bush told Draper. When Draper asked how he had reacted when the policy changed, Bush replied, "Yeah, I can't remember. I'm sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?'"
But according to the Bremer letters, Bush responded to the envoy's briefing that he was planning to dismantle the Iraq military with a big thumbs-up the following day: "Your leadership is apparent. You have quickly made a positive and significant impact. You have my full support and confidence."
The Times notes that the decision to disband the military is "now widely regarded as a mistake that stoked rebellion among hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and made it more difficult to reduce sectarian bloodshed and attacks by insurgents."
The Bremer letters were sent to the president through the office of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with whom Bremer claims to have discussed his plans to dismantle the military "several times," according to the Times.
Yes, we know the “who”
the question they all tiptoe around is,
“why”
Classic CYA!
Oh, and I forgot to add it gets play because it fits the template beautifully. Bush’s fault always gets front page treatment.
I know this is not a popular view, I believe that the dismantling of the Army was one of the smarter things that was done post-invasion.
Bush set himself up with that lame CYA of his own. He should resign for allowing two insider books be written about him during his administration.
Nevertheless, I would need to see the context about
“Your leadership is apparent”, where it appears in the letter.
Hindsight is alway 20/20
“I know this is not a popular view, I believe that the dismantling of the Army was one of the smarter things that was done post-invasion.”
Well, no one in the Bush Admin. seems to want to jump in there. Debateable, but I think the key issue is suspiciously not addressed at all not the “who” but the “why.”
I supported disbanding them too.
“Hindsight is alway 20/20”
Nothing hind about it for many. It was controversial when it occured.
You’re probably right - no one bitched about it at the time.
The policing capacity and responsibility for the Army was the big distinction. Their police force outside the army was nothing but traffic control.
Without a vestige of the Army, the country had no capacity to control factions.
If that had not been the case, the disbanding would have had no ill effect outside Iranian invasion and border patrol issues.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. civil administrator L. Paul Bremer III had been on the job in Baghdad less than two weeks when he announced a decision that sent shockwaves through Iraqi society.
With a stroke of the pen, Bremer dissolved Iraq's vast armed services, sending pink slips to more than 400,000 armed officers and enlisted men whose light resistance had helped secure the U.S.-led military victory against their government. ...
Either way I think it was a moot point. The military pretty much dissolved as the U.S. moved in. There was nobody left to dismantle, planned or not.
As the Iraqi Army has been reconstituted, of course many of the recruits are former officers and enlisted of the old army and IRG. What’s the difference?
Beyond it being the right decision to disband an institution that had participated in genocide, the Shiites told us in no uncertain terms that we would have a repeat of the 1920s revolt on our hands if we left Saddam’s military intact.
I agree with you. Neither way was going to be pretty but the Iraq military needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. Too many Baathists in leadership positions and too many Shiites in the population who would never have gone with that.
I think we would have wasted years trying to keep the old military together and then have to dismantle anyways.
They're American trained from the bottom up, versus being Soviet trained from the bottom up.
“the Shiites told us in no uncertain terms that we would have a repeat of the 1920s revolt on our hands if we left Saddam’s military intact.”
I’ve never heard that one. Also, don’t confuse the Repbulican Guard atrocities with the regular army, mostly conscripts.
True. Which I should think is better.
But my main point was that there was precious little if any Iraqi army left in place after the invasion. “Disbanding” the army I thought at the time was a silly way to put it, given that there was no army left to disband.
Right, Bremer is in CYA mode. He played the Viceroy role to the hilt.
This reminds me of the Dr who is called to account for jerking a perfectly fine gallbladder. “But but but the patient signed the consent form. It is HIS fault!!”
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