Do you think it is strange that while McCain and Cheney are in Iraq that this serious NYT military expert has published a story today that absolves everyone except Paul Bremer from the fateful decision of dissolving the Iraqi Army? Do you think it might just be possible that the protests to the Iraq War on Wednesday has stimulated a long planned propaganda offensive by the Busheviks ahead of that date? Isn’t it nice that the administration has at its disposal a journalist tool who will print whatever is desired and needed at just the right time?

Fateful choice on Iraq army bypassed debate

BAGHDAD: When President George W. 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.

The decree was issued the next day.

The broad outlines of the decision are now widely known, defended by proponents as necessary to ensure that Saddam Hussein's influence did not outlive his ouster from power.

But with the fifth anniversary of the start of the war approaching, some participants have provided in interviews their first detailed, on-the-record accounts of a decision that is widely seen as one of the most momentous and contentious of the war, assailed by critics as all but ensuring that American forces would face a growing insurgency led by embittered Sunnis who led much of the army.

The account that emerges from those interviews, and from access to previously unpublished documents, makes clear that Bremer's decree reversed an earlier plan — one that would have relied on the Iraqi military to help secure and rebuild the country, and had been approved at a White House meeting that Bush convened just 10 weeks earlier.

The interviews show that while Bush endorsed 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, Lieutenant General David D. McKiernan. The decree by Bremer, who is known as Jerry, prompted bitter infighting within the government and the military, with recriminations continuing to this day.

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

I am constantly intrigued how the neo-con mind trusts Big Government to protect America from the evils of terrorists yet can rabidly distrust said Big Government when spending or taxes are scrutinized.

Does not compute.

Every administration water carrier should be asked publicly why they trust Big Government to protect them from identity theft forever and ever if they can't trust Big Government to spend their 2007 tax contribution reasonably. After all, this world of information will certainly be abused by common thieves after it gets abused by political insiders.

Count on it. It's called human nature.

Glenn, didn't you get a reply from the Politico over your critique of them last week?

Are you still going to address it?

I stopped my Time subscription because of your posts on Joe Klein and despite all of the negative blogging that Time has received since then, the editors at Time and its owner have learned nothing.

-- Retired Military Patriot

Monday, March 17, 2008 08:11 AM

I wrote at least a dozen emails back during the Klein debacle politely but firmly insisting TIME cancel my subscription and explaining why. I got a non-response from Stengel defending his useless rag, but I keep getting the magazine.

Was my mistake demanding a refund of the six months of remaining subscription?

The illegal tools of the state brought Spitzer down, but think of all the harm done by Spitzer in using the same tools against so many other innocent people. He practiced what could be termed "economic McCarthyism," using illegitimate government power to build his political career on the ruined lives of others.

Find me one "innocent" person Spitzer convicted.

Though Spitzer used the same tools to destroy individuals charged with economic crimes that ended up being used against him, gloating over his downfall should not divert our attention from the fact that the government spying on American citizens is unworthy of a country claiming respect for liberty and the fourth amendment.

He got warrants and he prosecuted people who defrauded the American people and destroyed many of them. Ron Paul may want to disband the SEC and every other federal regulatory agency designed to protect the public there is but that's why no one will vote for him.

The economy is tanking

Bear Stearns was trading at 20 on Friday, 30 something last monday I think, and had book value in the billions--and yet the offer from JPMorgan is two bucks a share yesterday and this morning.

Last week, and last year, the "experts" in the media were telling us that the worst of the credit problems were over, that we were bottom or about to bottom, that the problem had been "priced in". All sorts of soothing talk that turned out to be total crap.

It is interesting to see this vast wave of behavior in our Congress, Executive branch, Media, Financial Institutions--all forcing any reasonable person to doubt the veracity of each and every one of these huge and vitally important institutions.

These behaviors are all inter-related in complex ways, but the simple result is a loss of faith on the part of the american people who end up paying for it, in more ways than one.

Glenn, didn't you get a reply from the Politico over your critique of them last week?

Are you still going to address it?

Kuhn didn't request that his response be published. It was just an email to me. The only parts I felt compelled to post were the two factual corrections he sent, and I did. The other points basically amounted to the claim that the trends he cited in polling data were newsworthy, which completely missed the point. I said I would write about the rest of the response because it illustrated a couple of points worth noting but then the FISA events consumed my attention. I still might return to the rest of the Kuhn's points if time permits and it seems worthwhile to do so.