Saddam would’ve had this sh*t rolled up in weeks. When the decision was made to overthrow him, the U.S. should’ve colluded with elements of the Ba’ath Party.
Absolutely. The higher level Ba'ath people were criminals, and belonged in jail or at the gallows. But the lower level people were just members because they had to be. Those folks should have been allowed to stay and build a new Iraq. Just as it was done in Germany and Japan.
But the Bush people (and Paul Bremer in particular) would have none of that. They demobilized the entire Iraqi army and sent it home, bitter and humiliated but not disarmed.
It was one stupid and arrogant decision after another.