[Tallguy]

Didn't the Iraqi Army in effect disband itself by deserting the battlefield? I think that Gen. Garner is playing a little CYA game on that point. If a mistake was made it was in not "re-establishing" Iraqi forces during HIS tenure as administrator.

[TexKat]

Wonder what was up with the Tom Warrick guy.

[Broadside Joe]

"Didn't the Iraqi Army in effect disband itself by deserting the battlefield?"

Yes. And the Iraqis did NOT want them around for obvious reasons. Things didn't really start getting done until Bremer got there.

[TexKat]

Didn't the Iraqi Army in effect disband itself by deserting the battlefield? I think that Gen. Garner is playing a little CYA game on that point. If a mistake was made it was in not "re-establishing" Iraqi forces during HIS tenure as administrator.

U.S. Sped Bremer to Iraq Post

Within days of his arrival in Baghdad, Bremer reversed a decision, announced by Garner only two weeks before, to put an Iraqi interim authority in place by the end of May. Overriding complaints from former Iraqi opposition leaders hoping to step quickly into positions of power, Bremer said that would be at least the middle of July, and indicated local leaders would play a greater role.

This week, Bremer decreed that as many as 30,000 top members of Hussein's Baathist Party were ineligible for government jobs, reversing initial Pentagon plans to retain high officials less tainted by ties with Hussein to aid the effort to get services quickly up and running.