Iraqi army, what Iraqi army?

[bushmeister0]

Michael Gordon writes in the NYT this morning:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/world/middleeast/17bremer.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp

"When President Bush convened a meeting of his National Security Council on May 22, 2003, his special envoy in Iraq made a statement that caught many of the participants by surprise. In a video presentation from Baghdad, L. Paul Bremer III informed the president and his aides that he was about to issue an order formally dissolving Iraq’s Army. . . Interviews show that while Mr. Bush endorsed Mr. Bremer’s plan in the May 22 meeting, the decision was made without thorough consultations within government, and without the counsel of the secretary of state or the senior American commander in Iraq, said the commander, Lt. Gen. David D. McKiernan."

Colin Poweel was out of the loop? Again?

"Mr. Powell, who views the decree as a major blunder, later asked Condoleezza Rice, who was serving as Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, for an explanation. 'I talked to Rice and said, "Condi, what happened" he recalled. 'And her reaction was: "I was surprised too, but it is a decision that has been made and the president is standing behind Jerry’s decision. Jerry is the guy on the ground." And there was no further debate about it."

The entire article is a litany of supossedly responsible peolpe denying any responsibility. No one knows anything about anything.

"Mr. Bremer said he did not recall who first proposed the decree dissolving the Iraqi Army."

"Mr. Rumsfeld declined to be interviewed"

"As Mr. Bremer and Mr. Slocombe began to prepare their decree, one important question raised by the Pentagon was whether General McKiernan was on board . . . I got the impression that Lieutenant General McKiernan was not all that keen about the course of action,' Colonel Gardner said, 'but was clearly told that he did endorse the draft.' Colonel Gardner added that he could not recall the name of the staff officer he spoke with.

General McKiernan, however, asserted that he neither reviewed nor backed the decree. 'I never saw that order and never concurred,' he said. 'That is absolutely false.'

Lt. Gen. J. D. Thurman, who serves as the Army’s chief operations officer and was the top operations officer for General McKiernan at the time, had a similar recollection. 'We did not get a chance to make a comment,' he said in an e-mail message. 'Not sure they wanted to hear what we had to say.'"

Didn't want to hear what they had to say? What a shocker!

Jerry Bremer, meanwhile, says he let everyone know what he was planning and everyone was on board, but no one seems to remember ever hearing about his plans.

It's not too surprising that W. was out of the loop or Condi either, but my God, what a thing to do, put an entire army on the streets without a paycheck and five years later still no one knows how it happened.

Not that CPA Speical Order No. 2 has had any significant effect on the country or the occupation, naturally.

Ignorance is truly blisss.

[dtotire]

1. FIASCO

That's the only way to describe what has happened.

[ljm2002]

2. A fiasco from our point of view...

...for sure, resulting in chaos and more killing, and a nation that cannot hold itself together.

However, we must look at the big picture.

Given this level of chaos, it is easy to make an argument that the US must stay in Iraq in order to prevent "things getting worse". So that has worked out well for those in power who want us to be in Iraq forever.

Also, with this level of chaos, it has been easy to put mercenaries in place, as well as to secure those no-bid contracts for rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure and for supplying the US military with food and other necessities. So the big corporations in these businesses have made out like bandits.

All I'm saying is, while they may have appeared to not know what they were doing, in fact, they knew exactly. They may not have foreseen some of the consequences, but they have certainly benefitted firms like Blackwater, Halliburton, KBR, Carlyle, etc et-fucking-cetera.

So I think that from some points of view -- a la Cheney's recent remarks that the Iraq invasion and occupation has been a "successful endeavor" -- this whole thing has been a resounding success, seeing as how it has lined their pockets even more than they expected...

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0157942120080317?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

"If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor ... and it has been well worth the effort," Cheney told a news conference in Baghdad after meeting Iraqi leaders."