That brings to another point. Was it a mistake for Bremer to dismantle the Iraqi Army in 2003 to eliminate Ba'athists?
"Was it a mistake for Bremer to dismantle the Iraqi Army in 2003 to eliminate Ba'athists?"
It was a massive mistake, probably the biggest of the conflict. We didn't need 400,000 troops in Iraq if we had kept the Iraqi Army and used them as a tool. These guys knew the lay of the land and where the extreme Saddam loyalists were hold out.
The Baathists by in large were loyal to one person themselves. After the war it would have cost us very little in comparison to what we spend each month in Iraq to pay the Army and have them protect the borders and enforce security on the streets of Iraq.
Instead we kicked them all out of their jobs which left thousands of military men hanging around which were easy pray for Saddam's inner circle and the foreign fighters who came in with lots of money and thus offered them all part time jobs attacking US troops, building bombs, and hiding terrorists.