Στα αποσπάσματα βιογραφιών, λέει ότι θέλησε αρχικά να διατηρήσει τις δυνάμεις: `Ναι, δεν μπορώ να θυμηθώ.»

Από Molly hennessy-Fiske

Μια από τις ο βαρύτερα επικριμένες ενέργειες στη συνέπεια των ΗΠΑ - η οδηγημένη εισβολή του Ιράκ ήταν Μαρτίου 2003 η απόφαση, μόλις δύο μήνες αργότερα, για να απολύσει τον ιρακινό στρατό, τους αλλοτριώνοντας προηγούμενους στρατιώτες και την οδήγηση πολύ ευθύ στις τάξεις των αντι-αμερικανικών στρατευμένων ομάδων.

Αλλά τα αποσπάσματα μιας νέας βιογραφίας του Προέδρου Bush του παρουσιάζουν που λέει ότι θέλησε αρχικά να διατηρήσει τον ιρακινό στρατό και, πιό εκπληκτικός, ότι δεν μπορεί να υπενθυμίσει γιατί η διοίκησή του αποφάσισε να το απολύσει.

«Η πολιτική ήταν να κρατηθεί ο στρατός άθικτος δεν συνέβη,» να φυτεψει τον ειπωμένο βιογράφο Robert Draper στα αποσπάσματα που δημοσιεύθηκαν με θάμνους σε New York Times της Κυριακής.

Draper pressed Bush to explain why, if he wanted to maintain the army, his chief administrator for Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, issued an order in May 2003 disbanding the 400,000-strong army without pay.

“Yeah, I can’t remember; I’m sure I said, ‘This is the policy, what happened?’ ” Bush said, adding: “Again, Hadley’s got notes on all this stuff” — a reference to national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley.

Spokesmen for the White House and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld declined to comment about the excerpts Sunday. Bremer could not be reached for comment.

Douglas J. Feith, then undersecretary of Defense for policy and an architect of the Iraq invasion, said the excerpts raised interesting questions about how the pivotal decision was made.

Feith was deeply involved in the decision-making process at the time, working closely with Bush and Bremer.

In February 2003, the month before the invasion, Feith briefed Bush about plans Rumsfeld had signed off on to maintain the Iraqi army. The assumption at the time, based on information provided by the CIA, was that the army would remain intact after the invasion, Feith said.

Instead, Iraqi officers fled their posts, which were ransacked and looted. U.S. officials inherited a military that would have to be overhauled or abandoned, Feith said in an interview Sunday, and they opted for the latter.

Feith said he could not comment about how involved the president was in the decision to change policy and dissolve the army.

“I don’t know all the details of who talked to who about that,” he said.

But he said the decision warrants scrutiny.

“I know there are people out there who say one of the most significant decisions the United States made [in Iraq] was the dissolution of the Iraqi army,” Feith said. “So it’s an interesting question. But very often on these things, until everybody writes memoirs and all the researchers look at the documents, some of these things are hard to sort out. You could be in the thick of it and not necessarily know all the details.”

Feith, a visiting professor at Georgetown University, is the author of a forthcoming memoir, “War and Decision,” about his work in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Draper’s book “Dead Certain” is to be released Tuesday.

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