I disagree. The choice we had was to reorganize the country around some existing institutions or dismantle them all and build a country from scratch. We chose the latter. That is a long-term process, 7-10 years, minimum - time we didn't and don't have. Had we left the army and most ministries in place, rooting out the higher-level Baathists and more fanatical units, we could have reorganized the country and accomplished a stable government much sooner. And Iraq would have an army the size it needs today but does not have.
Also, by dismantling the entire army, we threw hundreds of thousands of soldiers out of work with no pay and no unemployment. So, of course they signed up with AQ - they got a steady paycheck.
We didn't even destroy all the institutions of Germany post-WWII and there we didn't restore sovereignty until 1954. Rummy and Bremer must have been high on something if they thought the voters would give them that much time in Iraq.
Talked to my SPC son today who says he has seen a lot more Iraqi Patrols stepping up lately and his convoys are going smoothly in Al Anbar. Haven’t heard that on the MSM yet. The museums are open in Baghdad and people are trying to carry on normal lives. All the stolen artifacts are back and accounted for. Remember? they were pillaged and stolen. Not true. They were protected and preserved-—another thing the MSM forgot to cover. We get great stats on every American Hero killed and wounded and every bomb that goes off seems to have a camera set up and ready to shoot for us to see. The high number of enemy captured or killed is not newsworthy. Come on Iraqis, you can do it. Because Harry says you lost does not make it so.