Hitchens, always the knee-jerk contrarian. Everyone except Bush dead-enders agrees that disbanding the Iraqi army was a boneheaded decision that single-handedly created the bloody insurgency.

No sayeth Hitchens, we were right to disband the army!

OK Hitch. If so, then just add that to the myriad reasons invading Iraq was a really stupid idea:

We're going to invade Iraq.

What about the Iraqi army?

Well, I guess we'll have to disband it.

But what about the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who'll lose their jobs, won't you just be pissing off a bunch of guys trained to use guns and give them a reason to use them against our troops?

Yes, but we'll be right about disbanding the Iraqi army, and Hitchens will be able to gloat about it on Slate.

Oh, OK.

The hundreds of thousands who lost their jobs?

You act as if being in the Iraqi army made you some how better than a poor farmer, which it did not. Most were forced into the army to prove their loyalty, and many were starved. Thats why the abandonment of the army once the US moved in was so great.

Furthermore, there was insurgencies in Iraq all throughout Saddam's reign. Many of them were operating out of Iran and have been for over 30 years.

You act as if being in the Iraqi army made you some how better than a poor farmer, which it did not. Most were forced into the army to prove their loyalty, and many were starved.

Rubbish. All of them were provided with free health care and free education.

Hahaha.

What? Those people didn't even have enough provisions to feed themselves.

Education and health care were the least of their concerns.

What? Those people didn't even have enough provisions to feed themselves.

Because of the sanctions, but they were still entitled to free health care and education.

Comer to think of it, had it not been for the immoral sanctions, the Iraqi military would have been better off than most US troops.

"Because of the sanctions, but they were still entitled to free health care and education. "

So, a program that was called "oil for food" caused the people to starve, and not Saddam bribing people, like Kofi Annan's son, billions of dollars to take the money and spend it on things like Palaces?

What the hell? Was your head in the sand?

So, a program that was called "oil for food" caused the people to starve, and not Saddam bribing people, like Kofi Annan's son, billions of dollars to take the money and spend it on things like Palaces?

The OFF was introduced long after the damage was done. Prior to that, the 2 UN appointed directors of the sanctions resigned on the grounds that the sanctions were genocide.

I don’t think that whether Iraqi soldiers were happy to be in the army or not is really the salient point here. I always thought the wisdom called into question dealt with the potential repercussions of disbanding a large group of armed, militarily trained men into a population previously held together by only brute force and intimidation.

Lol.

You are a complete idiot.

The sanctions did nothing. He got around them. The Genocide was him killing the Shiites during that time.

"I always thought the wisdom called into question dealt with the potential repercussions of disbanding a large group of armed, militarily trained men"

1. They weren't armed, they had very little weaponry.

2. They weren't well trained.

3. They were starved and mostly left in a mass dissertation to flee during the battle.

The sanctions did nothing. He got around them. The Genocide was him killing the Shiites during that time.

1. They weren't armed, they had very little weaponry.

They all got to take home the weapons they had and then grab the weapons ammunition dumps that were left unguarded because we were too busy securing the oil fields and the oil ministry.

2. They weren't well trained.

Rubbish. They were battle hardened from a decade of war with Iran. The IED's they create out of household items prove how well trained they were.

3. They were starved and mostly left in a mass dissertation to flee during the battle.

Fleeing and withdra3ing to fight another day and two different things. Most of the 3,700 dead Americans and tens of thousands wounded were killed AFTER Mission Accomplished.