Envoy's Letters Counter Bush On Dismantling Of Iraq Army

New York Times:

One day later, Mr. Bush wrote back a short thank you letter. "Your leadership is apparent," the president wrote. "You have quickly made a positive and significant impact. You have my full support and confidence." On the same day, Mr. Bremer, in Baghdad, had issued the order disbanding the Iraqi military.

Mr. Bush did not mention the order to abolish the military, and the letters do not show that he approved the order or even knew much about it. Mr. Bremer referred only fleetingly to his plan midway through his three-page letter and offered no details.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[SupremeIdiot]

01:32 PM on 09/04/2007

Seems to me that Draper's whole book is a propoganda text put out in order to alleviate 'ole Georgie of any responsibility from the mess he's made.

[tiredoftheBS]

12:13 PM on 09/04/2007

And I thought my cousin was an airhead!

[altara]

11:20 AM on 09/04/2007

(fake news from Sub-Rosa News)

SUB-ROSA NEWS

Some of the News
That may be True

BUSH RESCINDS ORDER TO DISBAND NAVY

Sydney. September 4, 2007 - President Bush released a statement today saying that he had ordered the Secretary of the Navy to cease immediately all actions dismantling the U.S. Navy.

During a brief press conference, Mr. Bush said that he had acted promptly after learning of the disbanding of the Navy. He added that has always been his policy to maintain the operations of the United States Navy. Fortunately, to date only one cruiser and two destroyers had been sold.

In response to a reporter's question noting the existence of President Bush's executive order telling the Joint Chiefs' to take this action, Mr. Bush said he did not remember such an order, adding that "Hadley has notes on that".

homer www.altara.blogspot.com

[JustADumbFireman]

10:33 AM on 09/04/2007

Oops... That is unfortunate.

[tiredoftheBS]

09:42 AM on 09/04/2007

This article is notable because it harkens back to the video of George Bush "managing" the Katrina disaster as it unfolded two years ago, namely: he did not ask any questions. This is the signature style of GW. He seems to delegate all aspects of decision making to his subordinates and never checks on the results. When things are shown to be miserable failures, he then disclaims any responsibility, almost taking the Gonzo shelter of "I don't know". Yet he says to the world:"I am the DECIDER"
It is apparent that George Bush misunderstands the meaning of delegation, thinking instead that it means abdication....of responsibility, and therefore he bears no ownership of any failure. Even his response to Bremer's letter is significantly ambiguous that today his spin machine can go into overdrive and he can plausibly disavow any knowledge (shades of Gonzo).
My take on this presidency goes beyond any ideological concerns, but it goes directly to the heart of incompetency and laziness. This man got through Yale with "the dog ate my homework" excuses and now he is trying to get through these two terms of his presidency with the same technique, albeit with a little help from his friends.

[ilovedessert]

09:38 AM on 09/04/2007

WOW BUSH TOLD A LIE...WHAT A SURPRISE!

[MissingAmerica]

09:23 AM on 09/04/2007

Einstein once said: "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." As for me, I just think Einstein had Bush in mind when he made this observation!

[ClevelandTom]

09:17 AM on 09/04/2007

It is interesting to conjecture on what would have happened if Bremer/Rummsfeld/Bush had recalled the Iraqi army, paid them, and weeded out the hardline Saddamists instead of starting from scratch.

Would that act alone have sent Iraq down a better path than the debacle we have now?

Seems to me things might have been somewhat better but fundamentally unchanged. When the US toppled Saddam they created a political power vacuum and set the US up to be occupiers. Most of the violence in Iraq has revolved around those competing to fill the power vacuum and those who want the US gone.

[javaman]

09:05 AM on 09/04/2007

In other words, paul "we don't need no stinking Iraqi's around here" Bremer, is trying to make sure that he's not the only one that looks like a fucking idiot around here.

My advice to Paul, don't try so hard, we already think you are an idiot and we also believe that moron* is an idiot and a colossal liar, so I honestly don't know who you are trying to impress?

[helonias]

08:36 AM on 09/04/2007

Lying or delirium tremmons?

[vippy]

08:21 AM on 09/04/2007

It is not called a "lie" but it is "spinning."
Everything can be spun. Hard to decipher truth from our gifted spinmasters! Our next election
will prove it again.

[Nyland8]

08:05 AM on 09/04/2007

"It's simply astounding that with such major decisions, nobody is ever held accountable and punished!"

Yes ... not assuming responsibility and not being accountable have become a matter of policy under the Bush administration. That's why they sub-contract interrogations to private companies. So when people are tortured and killed, they can always claim it wasn't the American policy OR the American military that did the nefarious deeds, but merely contractors run amok. There is no crime they are not willing to sanction in our name - so long as nobody has to assume the blame for it. Look at the Vanity Fair article that came out almost a year ago. The entire neo-conman cabal has dissociated itself from Bush and his failures, essentially claiming that it wasn't a failure of their ideas so much as a failure of implementation by Cheney, Rumsfailed, Rice, Bush and others.

Everyone from Adelman to Zoellick, with their dying breaths, will blame someone else for their feeble and thoroughly discredited delusions of global domination. And a quarter of the American public still seems to buy into the lie. You'd think after more than four-and-a-half years of evidence, they'd wake up.

It makes you wonder.

8

.

[dotmafia]

08:17 AM on 09/04/2007

And yet... Benedict Arnold is still taught in American classrooms today -- that he is an American traitor.
_

[NavyMom]

08:04 AM on 09/04/2007

I find it significant that the rats already off the ship are not standing by letting themselves be blamed for the holes in the hull. IOW, Bush and friends are trying to pin blame for the wreck they've made of America and the ME, and will be shocked at how many of their former pals are not passively accepting being hung out to dry.

[MajorKong]

07:52 AM on 09/04/2007

I see he's creating his own reality again.

[BushBites]

08:08 AM on 09/04/2007

It's so much easier than dealing with the absolute reality.

[bumpersticker]

09:54 AM on 09/04/2007

Bush is trying to look competent, but I doubt he read Bremer's letter or had much interest in whether the Iraqi army was dissolved or not. What is appalling is that this Office can be inhabited by a man who is just not interested in much of anything except that he is seen as a leader. That is the delusion he will not let go of.

[doinaheckofajob]

07:46 AM on 09/04/2007

Looks like the liar in chief can't remember which lies he told when. Bush's brain is mush, never did amount to anything worth writing about.