Quote Originally Posted by JWing View Post
1) I've talked to people who worked in the govt & White House during the Bush years and they have different opinions on what happened. Some think the Bush admin was just as divided as others others say it was a real battle between organizations. It seems like each individual and institution had its own view of Iraq. Rumsfeld was against national building for example and wanted out of Iraq as soon as the invasion was over. Gen. Abizaid and Adm Fallon believed that the US was destabilizing Iraq so wanted out. The Joint Chiefs thought the troops deployments was breaking the military and wanted out. Rice & The NSC were looking for ways to win, etc. I take the view that there were deep internal divisions within the administration that hamstrung Iraq policy until 07 and the Surge.
That's fascinating. Despite all the wrangling around here and other places over cointras, coindinistas, pop-centric, enemy centric and everything else, it may all have been a matter of divided command and a leader that needed to finally decide to take command and tell people what to do.