The NYT has a frontpage story this morning in which former Iraq boss Paul Bremer tries to rebut the recently re-aired suggestions that the dismantling of Iraq’s army was all his idea and that—as Bush recently suggested—the White House was taken by surprise. Bremer gave the NYT a copy of a letter he sent Bush back in the day in which Bremer mentioned the idea of scrapping the army.
It’s pretty thin gruel—both as a defense for Bremer and as a frontpage story. After all, as the NYT notes, “The reference from Mr. Bremer’s note to Mr. Bush is limited to one sentence at the end of a lengthy paragraph in a three-page letter.”
But none of that is what really interests me. After all, the decision to scrap the Army was made and the president is ultimately responsible. It doesn't much matter whether he knew about it or not. (One way his administration would be incompetent, and the other just stupid.)
No, what really caught my eye in the story was something else, something that also isn’t really news but that may just be a good example of how it is these catastrophic decisions keep getting made:
The reference from Mr. Bremer’s note to Mr. Bush is limited to one sentence at the end of a lengthy paragraph in a three-page letter. The letter devoted much more space to recounting what Mr. Bremer described as “an almost universal expression of thanks” from the Iraqi people “to the U.S. and to you in particular for freeing Iraq from Saddam’s tyranny.” It went on to recall how Mr. Bremer had been kissed by an old Iraqi man who was under the impression that Mr. Bremer was Mr. Bush.
That's one impressive bubble you have, Mr. President....
Quantum mechanics will go mechanical and your computer will run on ghostly knots, or spintronics, or maybe even slowed-down light
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Posted by: Rodger | October 28, 2010 at 01:41 PM