Incertonia
05-10-2004, 16:26
In a speech yesterday in West Virginia, Paul Bremer, former administrator of the US led occupation government, said that the US failed to put enough troops on the ground or to adequately plan the occupation. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6180514/)
"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," he said yesterday in a speech at an insurance conference in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. "We never had enough troops on the ground."
Echoes of Kerry's criticism
Bremer's comments were striking because they echoed contentions of many administration critics, including Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry, who argue that the U.S. government failed to plan adequately to maintain security in Iraq after the invasion. Bremer has generally defended the U.S. approach in Iraq but in recent weeks has begun to criticize the administration for tactical and policy shortfalls.
In a Sept. 17 speech at DePauw University, Bremer said he had frequently raised the problem within the administration and "should have been even more insistent" when his advice was spurned because the situation in Iraq might be different today. "The single most important change — the one thing that would have improved the situation — would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout" the occupation, Bremer said, according to the Banner-Graphic in Greencastle, Ind. A Bremer aide said that his speeches were intended for private audiences and were supposed to have been off the record. Yesterday, however, excerpts of his remarks — given at the Greenbrier resort at an annual meeting sponsored by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers — were distributed in a news release by the conference organizers.
Now for my take on it--it's a little late to be saying this publicly, Mr. Bremer. After all, you were talking the same line that Bush was while you were in charge, at least publicly. You had a duty to the soldiers who were protecting your ass to shout loudly that they were getting screwed over, and you failed in that duty.
But at least you're saying it now, and not on November 3, even though you're still supporting the man whose policies got us into such a fucked-up situation in the first place.
"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," he said yesterday in a speech at an insurance conference in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. "We never had enough troops on the ground."
Echoes of Kerry's criticism
Bremer's comments were striking because they echoed contentions of many administration critics, including Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kerry, who argue that the U.S. government failed to plan adequately to maintain security in Iraq after the invasion. Bremer has generally defended the U.S. approach in Iraq but in recent weeks has begun to criticize the administration for tactical and policy shortfalls.
In a Sept. 17 speech at DePauw University, Bremer said he had frequently raised the problem within the administration and "should have been even more insistent" when his advice was spurned because the situation in Iraq might be different today. "The single most important change — the one thing that would have improved the situation — would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout" the occupation, Bremer said, according to the Banner-Graphic in Greencastle, Ind. A Bremer aide said that his speeches were intended for private audiences and were supposed to have been off the record. Yesterday, however, excerpts of his remarks — given at the Greenbrier resort at an annual meeting sponsored by the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers — were distributed in a news release by the conference organizers.
Now for my take on it--it's a little late to be saying this publicly, Mr. Bremer. After all, you were talking the same line that Bush was while you were in charge, at least publicly. You had a duty to the soldiers who were protecting your ass to shout loudly that they were getting screwed over, and you failed in that duty.
But at least you're saying it now, and not on November 3, even though you're still supporting the man whose policies got us into such a fucked-up situation in the first place.