Ironic Quote of the Day

"Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons: There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents."

Although there are numerous mindless excerpts from Mr. Bush's speech last night, this is definitely one of the most frustrating. As is clearly par for the course with Mr. Bush and his cronies, this is still another instance where the Bush administration deflects blame once again. As Bush-appointed U.S. Administrator of Iraq by Mr. Bush, Paul Bremer did his damage in only three days in May 2003. With Order #2, Bremer completely disbanded the Iraqi military (including the most highly trained and educated individuals), resulting in more than 300,000 still armed soldiers now underground. This order follows Bremer purging approximately 50,000 Baath Party members from their jobs in government ministries, schools and universities. Senior officials at the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad attempted to persuade Bremer but he did not listen. In fact, one coalition official stated that "We said, 'Let's get Rumsfeld on the phone to soften it up a little bit.' But Bremer said, 'No, I'm issuing this today.'" (Bremer made this statement even though he reported directly to former Secretary Rumsfeld.)