Bush's War, Five Years On

Michael R. Gordon writes in the New York Times: "When President 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."

Gordon writes that new accounts and interviews about the decision make it clear "that Mr. 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 Mr. Bush convened just 10 weeks earlier."

The decision to disband the army "was made without thorough consultations within government, and without the counsel of the secretary of state or the senior American commander in Iraq," Gordon reports. Nevertheless, at the fateful May meeting, "Mr. Bush seemed satisfied, and no officials spoke up to object, according to Mr. Bremer and other participants."

The Biggest Surprise

The New York Times op-ed page asked nine experts what surprised them most about the war.

Kenneth M. Pollack writes: "[W]hat I most wish I had understood before the invasion was the reckless arrogance of the Bush administration. I had inklings of it to be sure, and warned of the inadequacy of some of what I saw. But I did not realize that as skillfully, cautiously and patiently as George H. W. Bush's administration had handled its Iraq war, that was how clumsy, careless and rash George W. Bush's administration would treat its own."

Paul D. Eaton writes: "My greatest surprise was the failure on the part of Congress to assert itself before the executive branch. That failure assured continued problems for the military in the face of a secretary of defense who proved incompetent at fighting war."

Anthony D. Cordesman writes: "As a Republican, I would never have believed that President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld would waste so many opportunities and so much of America's reputation that they would rival Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy for the worst wartime national security team in United States history."

Bush on the Romance of War

During a videoconference on Thursday, Bush told U.S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan that he envied them.

Tabassum Zakaria writes for Reuters; "'I must say, I'm a little envious,' Bush said. 'If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.'

"'It must be exciting for you . . . in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks,' Bush said."

Peter Baker writes in The Washington Post: "That quickly drew a rebuke from VoteVets.org, a group of veterans that has been critical of Bush's policies. 'I seriously doubt any of us infantrymen in Operation Anaconda found it exciting or romantic when the Taliban and al-Qaeda were firing mortar rounds at us and our fellow soldiers,' the group said, quoting one of its Army veterans, Will King, in a statement."