Did congress fail to heed the generals in the beginning of the Iraq occupation, or was it Bush?

Answer 1

By the beginning of the Iraq occupation, it was probably already too late to do things right. The original assessment of troops needed to overturn Saddam and occupy Iraq was on the order of 300,000 to 400,000. That estimate was given to Congress by the Army Chief of Staff.
Immediately afterward, Rumsfeld disputed that estimate and shortly pushed the General (Shinseki) into early retirement.
By the time we entered Baghdad, we did not have sufficient troops to maintain order.
Actually, it was even worse than that. We did not use the troops we had to maintain order. We allowed wholesale looting and a descent into anarchy from which the country and the occupation have never recovered. In the early days, proper show of force, coupled with the awesome performance of the military in taking the capital, might have kept things together.
Then we compounded the hideous stupidity by dissolving the Iraqi Army. That turned all of the officers and enlisted into out of work hostile elements.
It is sadly true that one could hardly have orchestrated a more certain debacle.
It is the fault of Congress that they have not intervened earlier.
The truth is that we need a larger military and national service. I am personally in favor of a military draft as well as a draft into social service. We all need to make some sacrifices in order to have a chance of stopping worse and worse terrorist acts in this country and around the world.
A good President would have rallied the country into action instead of lulling it to sleep by suggesting we all go shopping (literally true, by the way).

Answer 2

Democrats in Congress are failing to heed the Generals now.

Answer 3

All of the above... none of them wanted "a big war" so they decided to keep it small by sending in too few troops in the beginning... now that the administration has realized their mistake congress' cold feet are bound to tie Bush's hands behind his back...

Answer 4

Bush put Donald Rumsfeld in charge, he disregarded the generals (or fired them) and did things his way. Its is mostly his fault we are in the situation we are in today.

Answer 5

Bush. As Commander in Sheik, it was his determination of what forces to use, once Congress authorized the use of military force.

Answer 6

It was the department of defense civilian-bureaucrat establishment that knows absolutely nothing about the way wars should be fought.

Answer 7

Rumsfeld. Thats why he was fired....er.......resigned.

Answer 8

actually it was Rumsfield