Bush can't recall why Iraqi Army disbanded" (actual title - LA Times)

[The Count]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-bush3sep03,0,7983117.story

Draper pressed Bush to explain why, if he wanted to maintain the army, his chief administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, issued an order in May 2003 disbanding the 400,000-strong army without pay.

"Yeah, I can't remember; I'm sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?' " Bush said, adding: "Again, Hadley's got notes on all this stuff" -- a reference to national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley.

Spokesmen for the White House and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to comment about the excerpts Sunday. Bremer could not be reached for comment.

[Edgeoforever]

1. One cannot remember what one never knew....

By the same rule, he made NO mistakes...

[underpants]

2. Hey come on! I mean who can remember all the times they disbanded an army??

I mean REALLY!

[angstlessk]

4. You're correct, I cannot remember the last time I disbanded an army

it's normal!

[underpants]

7. Tell me about it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3496536&mesg_id=3496536

[SpongeBob]

6. If I had a nickel for every time I forgot I disbanded an army....

I could get myself 5 shinny penies.:+

[patrice]

11. !

:rofl:

[mod mom]

3. Convenient memory loss just like the rest of the re-thugs.

[Enrique]

5. Bush's bosses gave him a little time off during that time

a post-Mission-Accomplished recess.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

8. Details, smeetails. What I wanna know is what

dumbya was eating during this part of the interview.

[spanone]

9. yea, god forbid our president remember something relating to life & death

bullshit junior, utter bullshit

[patrice]

10. Plausible Deniability is their Answer for EVERYTHING.

And then they preach to others about Responsibility! :puke:

Is it any wonder the Young of this country are fundamentally confused?!?!? AND depressed!! = Hypocrisy strikes at the heart of our ability to survive! - and - Hypocrisy is omnipresent!

[daninthemoon]

12. This is the kind of brilliant excuses & explanations we're only beginning

to hear from this pinhead in his bizzare attempt to save his "legacy"

[Marr]

13. First, I don't buy it. But even if it were true...

it'd be proof of utter incompetence on a level that should demand impeachment.

Disbanding the Iraqi army was a monumental and moronic error, and just everyone could see it *at the time*. Everyone I talked to knew that this move was going to create an insurgency.

For Bush to know about it and sanction it would make him a colossal idiot, but to not even remember the decision-- to ascribe such little import to it that he could forget about it-- well, that's so far beyond the pale that I can't even categorize it. Impeach this fool.

[The Count]

15. Oh, I buy it. And agree on the monumental incompetence - but we already knew that

he knew that - he complained enough in the debate with Kerry that presidenting was "hard work" and we know how much the "vacationing" president loves working!

[Skink]

14. The NYT has Bremmer given permission.

[patrice]

18. Link?

Please?

Bremmer given permission by el Residentay?

[jmowreader]

22. I don't think he was "given permission"

I think Shrub told Bremer to do it. It was full of Baathists--as you'd expect, since Saddam was keen on political patronage and made EVERYONE in the Iraqi government join the Ba'ath Party.

How the hell are you going to de-Baathify if the people with the keys to the arms rooms of Iraq are all Baathists? Unfortunately, Home Depot of Baghdad seems to have made plan that week selling copies of keys to arms rooms.

[The Count]

26. Well, maybe *'s lips were moving, but Rummy&PNAC were talking - so...

no wonder he can't recall...:shrug:

[Marr]

35. I wonder how much that decision was rooted in projection-- or a sort of

assumption on Bush's part that the Baath party functioned like the Republican Party. I wonder if he assumed they were political partisans that would put party loyalty before all else, and therefore had to be removed?

I wonder if this move was, at it's core, rooted in that famous Bush oblivious elitism, like when his father stood amazed by the laser scanner in the checkout line? Perhaps he simply could not imagine people joining a political party out of simple necessity, rather than a quest for power or devotion to some exclusive club.

I do think it reeks of Bush Jr.'s infamously insipid, dualist thought process. Good/evil, black/white, etc. He perceived the Iraqi society in his usual binary way, and just instinctively set out to 'purge to evildoers'.

[The Count]

24. The NYT article is here

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/washington/?_r=1&oref=slogin
but their server is out. The paragraph I saved earlier:

"But when Mr. Draper pointed out that Mr. Bush’s former Iraq
administrator, L. Paul Bremer III, had gone ahead and forced the army’s
dissolution and then asked Mr. Bush how he reacted to that, Mr. Bush
said, “Yeah, I can’t remember, I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy,
what happened?’ ” But, he added, “Again, Hadley’s got notes on all of
this stuff,” referring to Stephen J. Hadley, his national security
adviser."

[The Count]

39. Better link for NYT:

http://tinyurl.com/28bdby
or

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/washington/02book.html?ei=5065&en=239f3ecde8d7b7e8&ex=1189310400&adxnnl=1&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print&adxnnlx=1188932565-byVqAF5R2MSD1svvamCoNA

[The Count]

19. Whatever the nuance, this is a CIC decision - and bush insisted he be the ONLY CIC

(before that, a theater of operation was lead by a CIC - i.e Wes Clark was the CIC in Bosnia). But W wanted to be the one and only, and Bremmer cannot be blamed for these kinds of decisions.

[jmowreader]

25. Commander-in-chief was a fairly common title pre-Bush

The Navy had a handful of CINCs, the Army had some, probably the Air Force had a few. Shrub changed them all to "combatant commanders."

First thing the next president needs to do to the military is ditch that asinine term and return our CINCs to being CINCs.

[The Count]

28. But first, let * take all responsibility for the decisions made in his *unique* name

[jmowreader]

32. Let's just use the "Saddam" solution

Someone posted a thread on here earlier this morning about the Iraqis dropping all charges against Saddam...you know, now that he's in a hole in the ground and all.

Which would be a good thing to do with Bush. We try him on the million Iraqis who are dead but shouldn't be thanks to him. We string his worthless ass up. We send videos around the world to prove we did it. And then we drop the charges for all the other malfeasance.

[The Count]

40. I ACTUALLY WANT THE CHARGES AND NOT THE STRING.

I want the record set straight - so he won't have to worry about "history"

[groovedaddy]

16. Typical dry drunk

CRS disease -or- is it something more sinister?

[tabasco]

17. 'This is the policy, what happened?' Bush said

That about says it all.

[patrice]

23. Is it just me, or has he taken a noticeable change for the worse

without KR behind him?

Seems as though Bush's discummbobulation has shifted gears since Rove's departure.

[tridim]

37. Sounds like his earpiece stopped working when Rove left

Hmmmm...

[Mr. Ected]

20. Won't Hear Sean or Rush Talking About THIS Today

Not in the middle of their year-and-a-half diatribe against Hillary Clinton.

How CAN those bastards read these kind of things from their own 'leader', and still feel the need to bash Democrats first and foremost?

They must really, really hate this country.

[tabasco]

27. They might not hate the country. They just love money more.

They are completely selfish and I would guess they are apathetic when it comes to the best interests of the Nation.

It's all about ME!

[Mr. Ected]

33. Sean and Rush Don't Recognize Such Nuances

Why should I?

[DefenseLawyer]

21. Remember Condi on Meet the Press

How did the 16 words get back into the President's speech?

Well Tim, we just forgot. There was a lot going on that week and we just forgot that there was a huge lie in the President's speech. Next question.

[The Count]

30. And then MWO unearthed the pic of W scribbling on the speech, glasses on

and it was even shown in congress at one point. Not that Timmy or anyone else reported on it.

[patrice]

29. My "God" if that doesn't produce shock-waves in the Military,

they are deaf, dumb, and blind, and all of that stuff about really caring about one another, is BS, BuShit!

[VaYallaDawg]

31. Maybe he thought the question was about disarming a bandit??

[DemGa]

34. "Dead Certain"

Bush can't be bothered with details; he's buy with larger concepts, like freedom and stuff.

[The Count]

41. I thought it was a good title too

W doesn't come in contact with reality very often - and when he does, we usually don't hear about how it went.

[electprogdems]

36. up to a million dead in Iraq

one to two million displaced inside, a million displaced outside -- and Bush says this

"Yeah, I can't remember; I'm sure I said, 'This is the policy, what happened?' " Bush said, adding: "Again, Hadley's got notes on all this stuff"

OMFG

I think i am going to puke

[The Count]

38. Too late to add the visual aid to the OP:

[Monk06]

42. Hey I'm just the desiderer not the implementatorer. Talk to Hadley. He's in charge of that shit"