Envoy's Letter Counters Bush on Dismantling of Iraq Army

By Edmund Andrews

New York Times



"A previously undisclosed exchange of letters shows that President Bush was told in advance by his [L. Paul Bremer] in May 2003 of a plan to “dissolve Saddam’s military and intelligence structures,” a plan that ... referred to dismantling the Iraqi Army."
"Mr. Bremer provided the letters to The New York Times on Monday after reading that Mr. Bush was quoted in a new book [Dead Certain] as saying that American policy had been 'to keep the army intact' but that it 'didn’t happen.' "
"The dismantling of the Iraqi Army ... stoked rebellion among hundreds of thousands of former Iraqi soldiers and made it more difficult to reduce sectarian bloodshed ... In releasing the letters, Mr. Bremer said he wanted to refute the suggestion in Mr. Bush’s comment that Mr. Bremer had acted to disband the army without the knowledge and concurrence of the White House."

Click on the title for the whole article



Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush


Robert Draper, a former senior editor for the Texas Monthly, has authored a new book on the Bush presidency, entitled "Dead Certain." In addition to six interviews with the President, Draper also interviewed outgoing White House adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, and many senior White House and administration officials. Bush tells Draper that his Iraq strategy is to "get us in a position where the presidential candidates will be comfortable about sustaining a presence," and, he said later, "stay longer." Some other highlights from the book: Rove told Bush he should not tap Cheney for Vice President; Bush hopes to make a lot of cash delivering speeches after his presidency is over; Bush "can't remember" one of the biggest mistakes in post-war Iraq; the White House staff, including Dan Bartlett and Rove, were "constantly at war" with one another; and Bush cries a lot.

Comment:
Anonymous said...
If there is one thing that we can count on our president for, its lying. I'm very angry by what I've read here. But shocked? No I am sorry to say that I am not surprised at all. Keep up the good work Bob and Tom, I for one am grateful!