Would Bush have said, 'Boy, I wonder why we didn't get rid of this guy sooner?'?

Question

"We've made three tragic decisions," Garner told Rumsfeld.
"Really?" Rumsfeld asked.
"Three terrible mistakes," Garner said.
He cited the first two orders Bremer signed when he arrived, the first one banning as many as 50,000 members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from government jobs and the second disbanding the Iraqi military. Now there were hundreds of thousands of disorganized, unemployed, armed Iraqis running around.

Third, Garner said, Bremer had summarily dismissed an interim Iraqi leadership group that had been eager to help the United States administer the country in the short term. "Jerry Bremer can't be the face of the government to the Iraqi people. You've got to have an Iraqi face for the Iraqi people."

Garner made his final point: "There's still time to rectify this. There's still time to turn it around."
Rumsfeld looked at Garner for a moment with his take-no-prisoners gaze. "Well," he said, "I don't think there is anything we can do, because we are where we are."

He thinks I've lost it, Garner thought. He thinks I'm absolutely wrong. Garner didn't want it to sound like sour grapes, but facts were facts. "They're all reversible," Garner said again.

"We're not going to go back," Rumsfeld said emphatically.

Later that day, Garner went with Rumsfeld to the White House. But in a meeting with Bush, he made no mention of mistakes. Instead he regaled the president with stories from his time in Baghdad.
"You know, I don't know if I had that moment to live over again, I don't know if I'd do that or not. But if I had done that -- and quite frankly, I mean, I wouldn't have had a problem doing that -- but in my thinking, the door's closed. I mean, there's nothing I can do to open this door again. And I think if I had said that to the president in front of Cheney and Condoleezza Rice and Rumsfeld in there, the president would have looked at them and they would have rolled their eyes back and he would have thought, 'Boy, I wonder why we didn't get rid of this guy sooner?' "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000293_2.html

Answer 1

I've been saying that about Bush for 6 years. One reason: he will never admit he made a bad decision. Especially in his decision to place unqualified people in his administration. He fills positions with people who helped him get elected because "he's a man of integrity. He keeps his word."

Answer 2

You've got it wrong. Bush is the magnet for felons, weak sisters, and ne'er do wells from all over. His entire administration is full of people who need to b gotten rid of, in the worst way.

Answer 3

I would guess that when you steal an election that you have many pay backs to take care of, never mind that the people that you appoint are incompetent and make poor decisions. Oh well two more years.

Answer 4

Thanks for the book.