Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry

There is, of course, no shortage of moments of high idiocy in the Bush administration's conduct of the war, but Paul Bremer is probably more responsible than anyone else for the explosive growth of the insurgency. He had hardly hit the ground when he took three disastrous actions: Firing anyone (Dr, lawyer, indian chief) who was a "senior" Bathist, abolishing the Iraqi Army, and abolishing the Iraqi police force. In one stroke he put most of the most educated people, the best armed and militarily trained people, and the people who understood how the country worked into unemployment. They all instantly were provided with motive, means, and allies for an insurgency.

There is a mystery here, however. Were these actions Bremer's ideas? According to Thomas E Ricks in Fiasco, when his outraged subordinates protested, he said: "I have my orders." Rumsfeld, Feith, and perhaps even Wolfowitz were reputed to be out of the loop.

We know who wanted these actions: Ahmed Chalabi - so who was carrying his water and why? If the Pentagon gang really weren't in on it, there are only two plausible candidates: Bush and Cheney. Bush reputedly had signed on to a different plan, at least earlier.

On the other hand, there is the matter of some nine billion dollars that went missing on Bremer's watch.

Has anybody read Bremer's book? Has he shed any light on the question? (No way am I going to pay for that SOB's book.)

UPDATE:Arun has the read Bremer, and Bremer's account clearly diverges from Rick's. See here and here. Bremer blames Rumsfeld and Feith. But Feith worked for Rumsfeld and Rumsfeld worked for Bush, or the cabal, or somebody.