Word: bremer
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...Paul Bremer would be the first to tell you that he has not had much time since he arrived in Baghdad just over a year ago to think about how he will go out. The proud finisher of 20 marathons, Bremer was a distance runner thrown into a sprint, a mad 13-month dash to try to create a new government and something approaching stability out of the fractious void that Iraq became in the wake of the coalition overthrow of Saddam Hussein in the spring of 2003. If the U.S. occupation of Iraq has proved that Secretary of State...
...last days, and outwardly at least he leaves as he arrived: cool, calm and collected. Meticulous in dress, he is articulate, strong willed, tireless in his work. Even his harshest critics give Paul Bremer all that. But next week, when he vacates his office at Baghdad's Republican Palace, from which he has essentially run Iraq, Bremer will depart with a diminished reputation. Blame for the failures of the occupation can be spread across the whole spectrum of the U.S. military and political leadership--from the Pentagon planners who ignored warnings of the chaos that would follow "liberation...
...BREMER:No that was always going to be the case. If you go back and see what I said on May 17, when I signed the order, a year ago, I said very clearly that it was our intention to pass this responsibility to Iraqis as soon as we could. No outside group of people was going to be able to make the fine-and they are very fine-judgments about people, on a case-by-case basis. I said at the time that I expected we would make mistakes, by keeping people in power who should be thrown...
...BREMER:We were consistent. I must have spoken publicly about it every couple of weeks, beginning from May all the way through. I encouraged the Governing Council to speak to that effect; they did not do as good a job as they might have done. And in fact, of course, most of the Baath Party members were not affected. If there were 11,000 or 12,000 teachers who were affected badly because of the implementation by the Council, even that is a small percentage of the 2 million people who were members of the Party. And I must tell...
...BREMER:Just by what I hear. I've talked to thousands of Iraqis over the year, and they are certainly not hesitant to tell me about things they disagree with me. It's not as if they all agree. That's the impression I get by members of political parties, who themselves represent more people. The alternative to not de-Baathifying at the time, I think would have led to an enormous amount of violence. A lot of people would have gotten killed. I think we save a lot of lives. I would offer in evidence simply what happened...