Bremer Whitewashes His Record In Iraq
Bremer Whitewashes His Record In Iraq
Today, Paul Bremer, the former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, releases a new book on his year in Iraq. Bremer is currently embarking on a media tour to pitch the book, and in doing so, is contradicting many of the false assertions he made about Iraq while he was in a position of authority.
ON U.S. TROOP LEVELS
Bremer Now: I Wanted More Troops
B. WILLIAMS: Just days after he got the job, Bremer says he saw an alarming report from a think tank, concluding it would take three times more US troops to stabilize Iraq than had actually been sent. He says he tried to get the attention of his direct boss—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. You’ll need a half million soldiers. It’s a piece of paper you sent to Secretary Rumsfeld. How did he react to that?
BREMER: So I sent a summary of it around to Rumsfeld and just said, “I thought you should take a look at this.†I never had any reaction from him. [NBC Dateline, 1/8/06]
Bremer Then: I Have Enough Troops
Q: Is the current troops strength adequate to produce the security that you’ll think is need now?
BREMER: Yeah I think it is. [Briefing, 7/24/03]
ON THE IRAQI INSURGENCY
Bremer Now: We Didn’t See The Insurgency Coming
WILLIAMS: Whose fault is it that no one saw the insurgency coming?
BREMER: You know I’ve thought about that as I looked back a lot, because we really didn’t see the insurgency coming. [NBC Dateline, 1/8/06]
Bremer Then: We Saw The Insurgency Coming
Q: Do you think that some of Saddam’s forces already had plans for opposition, even before the war began, and that they prepositioned personnel and weaponry before the war?
BREMER: Well, it’s possible. There has been some evidence of planning for the possibility of losing the war militarily and going into some kind of insurgency or organized resistance.
[Fox News Sunday, 7/20/03]
ON DE-BAATHIFICATION
Bremer Now: I Didn’t Disband Iraqi Army
WILLIAMS: Fairly or unfairly, you may be forever known as the guy who disbanded the Iraqi army. Is that fair?
BREMER: Well, it’s not fair in two respects. (a) It wasn’t me, (b) we didn’t disband it. The decision was discussed by my advisors with the senior civilians in the pentagon for weeks before I made my recommendation, which was approved in Washington. [NBC Dateline, 1/8/06]
Bremer Then: Pentagon Said It Was His Decision To Disband Iraqi Army
“[General Peter] Pace said Paul Bremer, the head of the coalition provisional authority in Baghdad, ordered the army disbanded on his own authority.” [AFP, 2/18/04]
ON THE QUALITY OF IRAQI FORCES
Bremer Now: Concerned About Misrepresentation of Iraqi Force Strength
WILLIAMS: Bremer thought the Pentagon painted a false picture of Iraq’s security forces and he said so.
BREMER: I raised my concerns about the numbers and quality of these forces – really, right from the beginning.
WILLIAMS: With whom?
BREMER: Well, with the president, with Secretary Rumsfeld, with senior military leaders. [NBC Dateline, 1/8/06]
Bremer Then: Misrepresented Strength of Iraqi Forces
QUESTION: How many troops, Iraqi troops, in this new Iraqi army or security force, whatever specific phrase you want to use to call them, are there right now? How many have been redeployed to help you? And how many do you project having over the next year?
BREMER: Well, the total number of Iraqis involved in one way or the other in their security, we think will reach about 220,000 by September, which is a very substantial number.
[CNN, 11/2/03]
Why didn’t Bremer speak up when he had the chance to change the course of Bush’s policy? Bremer said that he spoke privately with the president but did not do so publicly because “the president’s style—his style is to guard his counsel.†But now, for just $17.82, you can breach this confidence and learn what Bremer was telling the president behind closed doors.
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Come on. This guy is a scum bag. Always has been a crony. Impeach the bastards while we still have a country left.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:25 pmIt never ceases to amaze me how these guys think they can mispresent THEIR RECORD and get away with it - it’s the age of the Internet(s)! A smart ten year old with Google can point out their lies.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:28 pmRobert - The problem now is that too many people don’t listen to the smart ten year olds with Goolge.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:31 pmIt never ceases to amaze me how these guys think they can mispresent THEIR RECORD and get away with it
Comment by Robert — January 9, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
I agree, they act like if it’s not on CNN, then it doesn’t exist.
January 9th, 2006 at 2:34 pmPaul Bremer’s new book:
January 9th, 2006 at 2:35 pmWhat I wish I’d said and done in Iraq, if I hadn’t had my head so far up my ass.
how many more lies do we have to listen to…they guy all talk out of both sides of their mouths. SOMEBODY PLEASE IMPEACH THESE CROOKS!
January 9th, 2006 at 2:40 pmThat there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and by keeping up the quarrels of Nations is as shocking as it is true…
– Thomas Paine
So, Paul, wheres that Missing 8 billion?
January 9th, 2006 at 2:41 pmBush confidence=0
Bremer book=17.82
People Dead=300,000
Synarchist Math
January 9th, 2006 at 2:46 pmAre these idiots taking the Sean Hannity/ Bill O’Reilly “How to Lie, Misrepresent, and Deny and Get Away With It” coarse? We need to re-open mental hospitals with involuntary committment and start get some of these psycho/delusional nuts off the street and off the air!
When did blatant lying become so commonplace? And to think there are actually some people who accept what these idiots say hook, line and sinker and spew on those who are trying to set the record straight/identify their lies. So much for morality! It’s ok to lie like a rug, just don’t be gay (or tell anyone about it)! It’s ok to steal from clients but don’t even think of having an abortion. We’ll promote slave labor and prostitution in the Marianis Islands (and other places) just so you can have cheap shit here but so much for that manufacturing job with benefits here in the States. It costs too much to do business here!
This is the emerging ‘morality’ of the United States of America? I’m afraid of what we have to look forward to!
January 9th, 2006 at 2:48 pmHey! You think Timmy Russert would do the old “here’s what you said before”…”here’s what you say today” song and dance with ol’ Pauly “Heckuva Job” Bremer??
January 9th, 2006 at 2:52 pmI don’t see any difference in what he’s doing than what the Donk leadership did when they voted for war then later came back and said “we were deceived by that Evil Genius George Bush”. It seems to me the ONLY guy that has stuck to his guns and has done what he said he was going to do and stayed consistent is George Bush.
January 9th, 2006 at 3:00 pmI-TROLL-I,
What’s that old cliche about consistency…
George “Hobgoblin” Bush
January 9th, 2006 at 3:05 pmThis guy Bremer is even more ineffective than I had previously imagined.
1) My advisors made me disband the army…
January 9th, 2006 at 3:22 pm2) No wait, it wasn’t my decision…yeah thats the ticket
3) Why is everybody saying I disbanded the army? That is so unfair…Rummy did it!
“It seems to me the ONLY guy that has stuck to his guns and has done what he said he was going to do and stayed consistent is George Bush. I-RIGHT-I “
Republicans are easily fooled and have very short memories, and thanks for demonstrating that. Bush promised to go after Bin Laden, only to say he’d changed his mind, and Bin Laden was no longer important only a few months later. Bush didn’t stick to his guns, he stuck to his oil interests, and lied his way to that. And wasn’t bush saying something about how Iraq was only gonna cost 1.5 billion, and now we’re talking about 2 trillion dollars. Sometime sticking to your guns, is another way of saying being too stupid to recognize you’ve made a mistake. The fine line between reckless stubbornness and strong resolve is definitely between 1.5 billion and 2 trillion, and has long since been crossed.
And the next time you utalk to your buddy george, ask him why his ‘resolve’ faded so quickly on Bin Laden. Perhaps the next time he’s hold hands with a Saudi Prince, (or whatever other appendage he prefers), he can ask where Osama is for us. Then you’ll have a basis to make your claim, and it won’t be so clearly and patently false.
I feel for you man, you’re so easily duped by your petty desires, poor thing.
January 9th, 2006 at 3:28 pmI actually believe Bremmer’s assertion that he pointed out more troops were needed. But the request was rejected by the Bush Administration. Being a Bush crony, Bremmer just didn’t buck them.
January 9th, 2006 at 3:29 pmheckuva job paulie.
here’s your freedom medal
January 9th, 2006 at 3:29 pmDoes anyone think that Mr. Bremer will explain in his book what his CPA did with that missing $8 billion? As they say, “It’s your money.”
January 9th, 2006 at 3:31 pmI don’t see any difference in what he’s doing than what the Donk leadership did when they voted for war then later came back and said “we were deceived by that Evil Genius George Bushâ€.
Hey IRI, did you and Judd have a heart to heart or something? You’ve been far more lucid and thoughtful as of late.
January 9th, 2006 at 3:31 pm#18 — maybe the meds kicked in (just kidding IRI!)
January 9th, 2006 at 3:35 pmIt never ceases to amaze me how these guys think they can mispresent THEIR RECORD and get away with it - it’s the age of the Internet(s)! A smart ten year old with Google can point out their lies.
Who’s gonna hold them to it? Look what they’ve gotten away with so far. The righties screamed long, loud & hard about sex with an intern. You & I know that’s mighty small potatoes compared to what this gang has wrought–but the media have shriveled up & died, and the dems in congress keep enabling it.
January 9th, 2006 at 3:35 pmThe details of the CPA problems have been set out in the various reports to Congress since the war started. The DoD,State Dept.,SIGIR,USAID have all been reporting about the issues Bremer raises. Patrick Cockburn,Tom Lasseter and others have reported fron Iraq on these issues that Bremer and the CPA caused and the administration assisted in.
January 9th, 2006 at 4:20 pmBremer’s attempt to cleanse himself won’t change how history views his stewardship. Just another failure in a succession of failures by everybody but the military. And now they’re being sacrificed on that altar of the failure of GWB’s Iraq policy.
Got a case of CYA, Bremer?
January 9th, 2006 at 5:00 pmThe pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart,
Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
…thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
Obadiah 1:3- 4
January 9th, 2006 at 5:12 pmHey IRI, did you and Judd have a heart to heart or something? You’ve been far more lucid and thoughtful as of late.
Comment by Giacomo
It’s still early in the week. Just wait until the Prozac and bourbon kick in.
January 9th, 2006 at 5:20 pmEveryday Im getting more and more pissed off with America
January 9th, 2006 at 5:33 pmMr. Bush, and the right wing constantly talk about “honoring the sacrifice of our troops” by “staying the course”.
In reality, the only way this President and those who follow him have to honor the sacrifce of our troops, is to sacrifice more troops.
January 9th, 2006 at 5:57 pmRumsfeld’s rebuttal to Bremer’s account doesn’t bode well for the military.
Those scumbag Bushite beeotches are setting the stage to BLAME THE MILITARY for the caca in Iraqa!
What a country, what an administration….
January 9th, 2006 at 7:19 pmFirst, it doesn’t now and never would have made any difference how many troops we have in Iraq. Second, the insurgency, strangely enough, is our best friend in Iraq. Consider what would happen if we took the purple thumbs out of our ass and actually allowed democracy in Iraq. The majority Shia would take over, quickly align themselves with Iran, and possibly encourage the disaffected Shia in Saudi Arabia to rise up against the Saudi royals. That’s a helluva lot of oil to control and China and India have already made their intentions of pursuing it clear. India is the country to which we have outsourced much of our information processing technology. China owns a huge bloc of our debt plus a substantial amount of our manufacturing imports. Neither one of them is frightened of us at all. So Bush and the neocon’s gamble to take over the Middle East has completely failed and there are several other players standing in line to take our seat at the table once we have tapped out. For this reason alone, the President shall go down in American history as the biggest idiot who ever held the office.
January 9th, 2006 at 9:31 pm“Hey IRI, did you and Judd have a heart to heart or something? You’ve been far more lucid and thoughtful as of late. Giacomo”
Maybe I-RIGHT-I is afraid that he can be arrested using the new ‘anonymous annoyance’ law that bush signed today. Considering the hate speech I saw him post last week, I can’t say I’d mind much if he were arrested for the crap he posted. There’s free speech, and then there’s hate speech. I’m sorta surprised this site doesn’t manage the hate speech, because it’s frankly a lawsuit waiting to happen, especially in light of the new law. The ‘bar’ on the crime is being annoying, and clearly that’s a low bar to meet for most partisan trolls.
January 9th, 2006 at 9:31 pmNot much of a surprise Bremer would change his tune when the time came to sell books. The narrative requires redemption, if not for us, then for Bremer. Linked you on this at the update at Iraq: True or False
January 9th, 2006 at 9:46 pmI’ve always wondered about Bremer. He learned Arabic (I think the Farsi dialect) during his assignment in Iraq. That would indicate that he was not a complete idiot. At the same time, he toed the line with the Bushies. That would seem to indicate that he was a good soldier like Powell - don’t question Big Brother. Could we be looking at another pawn of the great Dick?
January 9th, 2006 at 10:23 pmFarsi isn’t Arabic. It’s what the Iranians speak.
January 9th, 2006 at 11:00 pmGood work Faiz. Also, the American Conservative magazine did a write up on the corruption of Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority. Truly sickening.
http://www.amconmag.com/2005/2005_10_24/cover.html
January 9th, 2006 at 11:45 pmPurvis, if the insurgency in Iraq is your
January 10th, 2006 at 1:09 ambest friend, what’s killing your troops?
Bush’s invasion of Iraq [is] “the greatest strategic disaster in United States history.”
–Lt. Gen. William Odom, director of the National Security Agency during President Reagan’s second term, and a scholar with a distinguished career in military intelligence.
The Greatest Strategic Disaster in U.S. History
“I think this is the worst government the US has ever had in its more than 200 years of history. It has engaged in extradordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign policy and economics but also in social and environmental policy”
–George A. Akerlof, American Nobel Prize laureate for Economics
US Nobel Laureate Slams Bush Gov’t as “Worst” in American History
Bush arguably has committed the greatest strategic blunder in modern memory. To put it bluntly, he attacked the wrong target. While he boasts of removing Saddam Hussein from power, he did far more than that. He decapitated the government of a country that was not directly threatening the United States and, in so doing, bogged down a huge percentage of our military in a region that never has known peace.
–James Webb Jr., Vietnam veteran, first Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs during the Reagan Administration, and former Secretary of the Navy
Veterans Face Conundrum: Kerry or Bush?
For misleading the American people, and launching the most foolish war since Emperor Augustus in 9 B.C sent his legions into Germany and lost them, Bush deserves to be impeached and, once he has been removed from office, put on trial along with the rest of the president’s men. If convicted, they’ll have plenty of time to mull over their sins.
–Martin van Creveld, a professor of military history at the Hebrew University, and only non-American author on the U.S. Army’s required reading list for officers.
Costly Withdrawal Is the Price To Be Paid for a Foolish War
January 10th, 2006 at 2:52 amBremer’s a scoundrel, but I’m of a mind that if it makes Bush look bad, it’s all good.
January 10th, 2006 at 7:47 amI’ve always wondered about Bremer. He learned Arabic (I think the Farsi dialect) during his assignment in Iraq. That would indicate that he was not a complete idiot.
Comment by WaltTheMan #31
Walt,
Almost anybody (even some Bushite inbreds) can be trained to ask for a coke in “any” foreign language.
Bremer fu*kedup, all of the generals fu*ked up, Rumsfeld fu*kedup, Bushiva fu*kedup, L’il Dick fu*kedup, Wolfowitz fu*kedup, Karl Rove fu*kedup, Richard Perle fu*kedup, Ken Adelman fu*kedup, Scooter Libby fu*kedup, Judith Miller fu*kedup, William Kristol, fu*kedup, Fox propaganda fu*kedup, CNN fu*kedup, the NYT fu*kedup…
Get my drift?
January 10th, 2006 at 9:23 amOnly one word or two about the mention of spaniard forces in the Bremer’s book: he says that spaniard troops where sitting on their tanks instead of helping the americans in an act of war against the Al Sadr militias. Sorry for Bremer and Bush, but the then Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, a far righter, who acted as a lackey for Bush under imperialistic dellusions, the invasion was sold to the contrary to the war and skeptic to Aznar spaniard people, in the basis of a humanitarian (UN-LIKE) mission, where troops shouldn’t shot any single bullet in the conflict, and only were there to hand food and assist the people of Iraq to rebuild their country. All the reports (PR-staged) of the spaniard GOP were rosy, talking about a peaceful farming province, to calm the spaniard people, who was very upset, because our GOP was a very bad one, not only by the Iraq involvement, but a long series of botches (the Prestige oil spill, a lot of soldiers dead in a plane crash, when they were flying home from Afghanistan, since the plane was an old russian flying coffin, erroneous ADN testings for every officer dead, ending in erroneous identification of 20 of them, only for the shake of ending the test too fast, and repatriate our soldiers 24 hours after, when the needed ADN tests would take several days) and an overpresumptuous attitude against other parties and minorities.
So, in 2003, our GOP had a big problem. There were milion people demonstrations against the war in our bigger cities, coming from left and right, but Jose Maria Aznar acted on his own, and wanting to please Bush, sent a number of troops on the pretext of “rebuilding” Iraq, handing out food and reconstructing damns and bridges. So the orders for our military were crystal clear: the rule of engagement is “no engagement at all”, and so said the spaniard general in charge of the province to Bremer. Sorry, pal, but the rule “shot every moving iraqi in 300 yards around” is an american engagement rule, not the rest of the world one. Btw, the american rules of engagement have fueled badly the insurgence.
So, having sold us the invasion of Iraq as an humanitarian task, if spaniard soldiers ended engaging in combats, the difficult equilibrium who was doing Jose Maria Aznar to win another term (this was at mid 2003 and elections were due for March 2004) would end as a giantic failure.
This explains also why the March 2004 bombings in Madrid, and the subsequent losing of 2004 elections by the Jose Maria Aznar’s Party (PP, or Popular(?) Party, very rightwinged), ended in the withdrawal of spaniard troops from Iraq, not to appease terrorists as said many times by the USA media (we have our own brand of terrorism, ETA, so we know who to deal with terrorists, and have a lot of experience dealing with it who the USA hasn’t), but to act coherently with the wishes of the majority of the spaniard people, including left, center and right leaning people.
To help you understand of the “loving” of the spaniard people for Aznar in 2003, think of Bush 2006.
And, yes, I agree with Bremmer, so much for the coalition of the unwilling. If Bush wants to go alone, with only opportunists Prime Ministers seeking for a personal prize (the medal of Congress, lobbied wy Aznar and never attained) without the backing of their own peoples in an illegal war, so much for the USA “Imperium” and their coalition of the willing.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:16 amSean Hannity wasn’t happy with Bremer, as JABBS points out.
January 12th, 2006 at 2:32 am