TPM's Must Read

[nhboy (Premo)]

"Beyond the decision to invade in the first place, it was no doubt the most disastrous decision of the war. In May of 2003, the U.S. disbanded the Iraqi Army, rendering more than 200,000 armed Iraqis angry and unemployed. This morning, The New York Times provides the most detailed account yet of how the decision went down. It's not pretty.

The original plan, concocted by the seasoned and competent Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, was to not disband the army. Only the Republican Guard would be disbanded. The reason was clear, according to a March, 2003 PowerPoint presentation given at a National Security Council meeting. Said one slide of the presentation: “Cannot immediately demobilize 250K-300K personnel and put on the street.”

Exactly whose idea it was to disband the army, no one can say. No, Paul Bremer won't take the credit for it. But Bremer and his deputy did champion the idea. And in late May, he told the president and his aides that he was going to disband the Iraqi Army the next day. The president signed off on it. But it's pretty remarkable who did not:"

TPMMuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Today's Must Read

[Larry Gude (Premo)]

...old news, but it bears revisiting. I'll bet the next thing they analyse is the decision to invade anyway even when Turkey, at the last moment, denied us use of their border for the 4th ID to come down from the North and 'cap' Baghdad which, per the original plan, would have kept all sort of bad guys from getting away, stopped much of the stashing of weapons and supplies and not allowed the looting to take place as that was also part of their roll; security.