The first four years were run by seasoned old hands , but in Bush's second term they were ousted for a team of Bush cronies who were not up to the job.
Bush’s failure to secure a long term status of forces agreement for our troops was a fatal flaw, as was making the Iraqi government independent from American occupying forces.
We wet in, destroyed the Iraqi infrastructure and military , threw the government into chaos, destabilized the region and the, delivered Iraq into the hands of our mutual enemy.
I disagree with your assessment of “two Bush presidencies.” Iraq was destined to be a disaster from the start, and a lot of folks were banned here on FreeRepublic (or left on their own) because they pointed this out all the way back in 2002 when the Bush Kool-Aid drinkers insisted that it was all going to be a piece of cake.
It started with the old hands. Paul Bremer was in over his head from the start. There should have been a military proconsul a la MacArthur in Japan for at least 3-4 years.