Bremer says U.S. did not expect insurgency in Iraq

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06261100.htm

Bremer says U.S. did not expect insurgency in Iraq


WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC Television said on Friday.

Bremer, interviewed by the network in connection with release of his book on Iraq, recounted the decision to disband the Iraqi army quickly after arriving in Baghdad, a move many experts consider a major miscalculation.

When asked who was to blame for the subsequent Iraqi rebellion, in which thousands of Iraqis and Americans have died, Bremer said "we really didn't see the insurgency coming," the network said in a news release.

The network, which did not publish a transcript of the interview, added that Bremer's comments suggested "the focus of the war effort was in the wrong place."

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Doesn't this get filed under

"They'll greet us with flowers"?

[saigon68]

47. BREMER= Asswipe surrounded by hundreds of MERCENARIES

Protecting his sorry ass at $2,000.00 per day per Killer.









http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,246775,00.jpg

[Greeby]

2. I think I speak for all sane people when I ask:

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS!!!!!! :grr:

[UpInArms]

3. You speak for me, Greeby!

so I'll just echo those sentiments:

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS!!!!!! :grr:

[wellst0nev0ter]

4. He Also Said His Proudest Achievement While Dictator Was The Flat Tax

if that doesn't tell you what kind of morons are running that country now and in the beginning, I don't know what does.

[Javaman]

5. Perhaps they didn't, but...

When asshole bremer cut loose 200,000 iraqi soldiers along with their guns, they were a little pissed off. then suddenly, Poof!! insurgency.

Granted, they were getting pissed at us before the army was cut loose, but it certainly didn't help matters.

So moron bremer is playing the hapless stooge, huh?

"who knew? why would they be pissed off at us? Could it be that I screwed them out of their rights? Didn't protect the general pop?"

[katinmn]

6. Obviously not. He's the complete imbecile who disbanded

Saddam's army. He and Rummy that is. That was probably the worst error in judgement of any war, any time.

[bluestateguy]

7. I told you so...

this is what happens when you put a bunch of good ole' boys with no military service in charge of a delicate operation like this. Folks like Bremer, Rice, Perle, Wolfowitz, Libby and Feith have nothing in the way of real world experience in the real world of foreign policy and warfare. Their experience is limited to think tank bibble-babble, academic conferences,newspaper columns and academic journals that no one reads.

[displacedtexan]

40. Did these guys sleep through "Julius Caesar?"

Antony and Octavius offed Lepidus so they could pay their army.

[marmar]

8. Another dispatch from the Fantasyland administration...

As if all of the experiences that every colonial power that's ever invaded another country haven't taught these fools anything....

:smoke:

This country is in the hands of dumbasses who clearly flunked their college World History classes. Would someone SOS some Zinn or CHomsky books to Bremmer.

[0007]

9. Give Jerry Bremer two double shots of "Croton Oil"

and everyone in the Pentagon & White House.

[Auntie Bush]

38. And then GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!!!!!!

[0007]

43. Gotta admit it would make real gentlemen out em?

....that is if you could get em off the toilet.

[Thom Little]

10. Bush & Co. adopt the "Duh" strategy

[mom cat]

11. Millions of people around the world saw it coming, but you

ignored them.

[EuroObserver]

33. Almost everyone who thought about it

here in Europe saw the 'insurgency' (read resistance) coming since well before the invasion.

Bt there was observable sunni-shia solidarity in the beginning of the resistance. Someone's been working hard to create divisions and foment the burgeoning civil war.

[mom cat]

57. A few death squads here and there, a few murdered clerics. Hell,

If we can bump off bishops saying mass, what is a few imams?
Very bitter :sarcasm:

[MurrayDelph]

12. This is from the same administration that brought you:

"Nobody could have forseen hijackers flying planes into buildings"

and

"Nobody could have predicted the levees failing"




p.s.

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS!!!!!! :mad:

[YDogg]

13. Well, Bremer, you are a dumbfuck.

Because pretty much anyone with a grain of common sense saw it coming. What the hell did you really expect? Or did you figure you were dealing with mindless, soul-less imbeciles, who would bend to your will? This has got to be one of the stupidest things I've ever read coming from his mouth. It makes me wonder how the hell he figures out how to get dressed in the morning.

[saigon68]

49. He doesn't -- His Mommy still dresses him

And changes his poopy diaper.

[OKNancy]

14. kick

[Barrett808]

15. Bremer says US did not expect insurgency in Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, has admitted the United States did not anticipate the insurgency in the country, NBC Television said on Friday.

Bremer, interviewed by the network in connection with release of his book on Iraq, recounted the decision to disband the Iraqi army quickly after arriving in Baghdad, a move many experts consider a major miscalculation.

When asked who was to blame for the subsequent Iraqi rebellion, in which thousands of Iraqis and Americans have died, Bremer said "we really didn't see the insurgency coming," the network said in a news release.

The network, which did not publish a transcript of the interview, added that Bremer's comments suggested "the focus of the war effort was in the wrong place."

The book, "My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope," is due for release on Monday. The interview will air on "Dateline NBC" on Sunday night.

Bremer also said he was deeply concerned about fighting insurgents and "became increasingly worried about the Pentagon's push to downsize the number of U.S. forces in Iraq by spring 2004," the network said.

(more)

http://www.dose.ca/calgary/celeb/story.html?s_id=leIIG5MXqCOcSUiW1pWeJoIZUmWWZvvkjKKUjJDaHwOtYmvQ0byA0g%3d%3d

[Faygo Kid]

16. Just great. Neocon madmen.

That includes you, too, Condi. Impeachment is clearly warranted.

[Burried News]

17. Duuhhh - remember the Viet Cong in Vietnam.

A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. Lie lie lie, lie lalalie, lalalielielalalie.

[Caution]

18. No, what he meant was that in the face of countless thousands

of people telling their congresspeople, the president and the military that this is EXACTLY what was going to happen they chose to FUCKING IGNORE these warnings and listen to a convicted criminal like Chalabi who had everything to gain from a US invasion. What he is admitting to is that the administration and this includes him are UNBELIEVABLY FUCKING STUPID.

[Fla Dem]

19. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb, & Dumber & Dumbest. Oh the stupidity. I would

venture to guess that anyone with a high school education, and knew something about the mid-east, maybe even saw Lawrnce of Arabia, could have anticipated some sort of uprising.

[HuffleClaw]

20. "did not anticipate the insurgency"?????

oh, you have got to be fucking kidding. what pathetic, lame ass, shortdick excuse is that ?

[MichiganVote]

21. What can you expect from a bunch of self inflated, aged, wealthy, assholes

[MrModerate]

22. I worked with Bremer in Iraq when he was there . . .

And he was totally convinced he was right at every turn. He'd had a successful career (mostly desk jobs and gladhanding), even a quasi-ambassadorial post, and just couldn't conceive of being wrong. His people adored him, and (though I wasn't that close to the inside) probably protected him from a lot of bad news out of misplaced loyalty.

The other problem he had to deal with (and I haven't read his book, so I don't know if he brings this up), but the CPA staff were generally third- or fourth- raters from out of the bureaucratic woodwork, NOT Middle East experts, and completely out of their depth. Not to mention that they rotated out every three or four months so that if they DID manage to work up a clue, they were sent home shortly thereafter.

It was like watching a train wreck -- and that was the "good old days" -- before the insurgency really asserted itself.

[rodeodance]

26. most come from the business world-as they do in the present WH.

[Tuesday_Morning]

54. What he did plan on...

... was greed. Lots and lots of it.

From Naomi Klein's story:

Baghdad Year Zero
Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of a neocon utopia

L. Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. occupation of Iraq from May 2, 2003, until he caught an early flight out of Baghdad on June 28, admits that when he arrived, “Baghdad was on fire, literally, as I drove in from the airport.” But before the fires from the “shock and awe” military onslaught were even extinguished, Bremer unleashed his shock therapy, pushing through more wrenching changes in one sweltering summer than the International Monetary Fund has managed to enact over three decades in Latin America. Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank, describes Bremer’s reforms as “an even more radical form of shock therapy than pursued in the former Soviet world.”

The tone of Bremer’s tenure was set with his first major act on the job: he fired 500,000 state workers, most of them soldiers, but also doctors, nurses, teachers, publishers, and printers. Next, he flung open the country’s borders to absolutely unrestricted imports: no tariffs, no duties, no inspections, no taxes. Iraq, Bremer declared two weeks after he arrived, was “open for business.” One month later, Bremer unveiled the centerpiece of his reforms. Before the invasion, Iraq’s non-oil-related economy had been dominated by 200 state-owned companies, which produced everything from cement to paper to washing machines. In June, Bremer flew to an economic summit in Jordan and announced that these firms would be privatized immediately. “Getting inefficient state enterprises into private hands,” he said, “is essential for Iraq’s economic recovery.” It would be the largest state liquidation sale since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

But Bremer’s economic engineering had only just begun. In September, to entice foreign investors to come to Iraq, he enacted a radical set of laws unprecedented in their generosity to multinational corporations. There was Order 37, which lowered Iraq’s corporate tax rate from roughly 40 percent to a flat 15 percent. There was Order 39, which allowed foreign companies to own 100 percent of Iraqi assets outside of the natural-resource sector. Even better, investors could take 100 percent of the profits they made in Iraq out of the country; they would not be required to reinvest and they would not be taxed. Under Order 39, they could sign leases and contracts that would last for forty years. Order 40 welcomed foreign banks to Iraq under the same favorable terms. All that remained of Saddam Hussein’s economic policies was a law restricting trade unions and collective bargaining.

<snip>

More

http://www.harpers.org/BaghdadYearZero.html

[Uncle Joe]

71. It seems like he is passing the buck on to Bush in this paragraph,

hmmm, I wonder if Bush will accept responsibility?

"Asked if he believes he did everything he could do in Iraq, Bremer replied, "I believe I did everything I could do. ... The president, in the end, is responsible for making decisions," the network reported."

[Julius Civitatus]

23. "Flowers and candy" -- they truly believed that shit

They truly believed that Iraqis were going to welcome them with "flowers and candy," just as Chalaby told them.

What a pathetic, unprofessional, unprepared bunch!

:banghead:

[Jackpine Radical]

32. I think I disagree with that.

With this bunch, you should never postulate mere incompetence when malign intent is an available theory.

I think they wanted unending war as a justification for prolonged looting of the treasury and unrelenting assaults on our freedoms.

[truth2power]

72. I think you're right, Jackpine, because

someone posted here a few days ago that Sun Tsu says one strategy of war is to appear incompetent when you really aren't. (paraphrasing).

I have that book here, somewhere. Gotta dig through some boxes, get it out and read it.

[robbedvoter]

24. Cakewalk! Why don't Iraqis love being shock&awed? It was purty!

[rodeodance]

25. selling a book--making $$--on the backs of the troops and their families.

It is immoral.

[ninkasi]

27. We expected it...

As I recall, that was one of the many reasons we at DU were opposed to the invasion. There were other reasons, too, which have since proved to be correct. Bremer made a fortune, I would imagine, for the time he was there screwing things up. How much money went missing? Remember, too, when he left, it was in a big, big hurry. Why are all of these people in positions of authority?

They lie, cheat, steal, and are completely incompetent at their jobs. They have succeeded in destroying two countries, the U.S. and Iraq, and still have jobs. This is completely unacceptable. Impeach Bush and Cheney now.

[number6]

28. not US, the neoclowns and PNAC fools didn't

expect insurgency in Iraq ....

[Straight Shooter]

29. Bremer says he does not understand why snake oil doesn't cure him.

I don't mind idiots. However, I am very much opposed to idiots being in charge.

[daleo]

30. If he is telling the truth, the whole lot of them should resign

For incompetence (I mean Bush and the entire administration). More likely he is lying though.

[NYC]

60. Bremer wrote a book?

I hope no one buys it.

[Judi Lynn]

62. No doubt the only people who would value his thoughts are folks who can't

read. They're not likely to buy the book.

Gourmet tips from Bremer, as if anyone cares:

"The food in Iraq is delicious," says Bremer, "a blend of standard Arabic cuisine with Persian influences and Turkish influence in the north. And the Kurds live in a garden paradise -- they can grow anything: nuts, apples, pears, apricots, grapes, melons, herbs. They make great goat cheeses, cow's milk cheeses and the best honey I've eaten anywhere."

http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/Blog+Image_paulbremer.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd rather hear the details of where he was when he discovered he had no conscience, of where the 9 billion dollars went, and when the Republicans are going to give up their lives of crime.

[NYC]

74. Thanks. I guess the food in Iraq is delicious

if you still have a home, all your limbs, etc.

Note that Bremer's shirt matches the edges of his china. Blue cooking pot in background.

I would say his concerns don't match the concerns of ordinary Iraqis.

[Selteri]

31. And the US didn't expect our politicians to be such idiots.

Unfortunately I expected it, predicted it and said it would not end well.

Looks like me, a 'stupid' person who was not able to join the military because of a permanent neck injury knows more than our big politicians.

[JeffR]

34. Just a variation of: "I don't think anyone could have predicted...

... that terrorists would hijack airplanes and slam them into buildings."

And Americans don't trust Democrats to keep them safe? Jesus.

[0rganism]

35. Did bushco get ANYTHING right?

Are "flowers and candies" merely codewords for IEDs and RPGs?

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS!!!!!!!!

I swear, any fourth grader with a decent history textbook could do a better job of running a foreign policy than these imbeciles.

[Uncle Roy]

36. The idea of people fighting for their country never occurred to them?

Somehow I'm not surprised. Maybe they thought the Iraqis would all have "other priorities" and rush to get deferments?

[killbotfactory]

37. They can't really all be this fucking stupid, can they?

I know, I know... stupid question.

It still makes my jaw drop, though.

[kineneb]

51. in a word - Yes!

I told friends during the "run-up" to the invasion that it would be a fiasco. I lived for a brief while in Iran and probably have a better understanding of the general mindset of the region than any of the BushCo "advisors." I could have told them that it wouldn't work and that it would turn into a giant game of "whack-a-mole" with many more moles than whackers.

And now in Val speak: Well, like, duh, ya' know, like, gag me.

[FreakinDJ]

39. RIGHT 2 million Emails later

Shit I forgot

That requires reading

In the lead up to the Iraq war the white house and every other lawmaker in this country received MILIIONs of email for telling this exact scenario would unfold

[liberalpragmatist]

41. Then they're idiots

Criminal idiots.

[phoebe]

42. more attempts to rewrite history.

They must think the American public has an IQ of 3 - mountains of information can be found to refute this "fact".

[nevergiveup]

44. Unfortunately,

59,054,087 Americans do have an IQ of 3.

[LynnTheDem]

45. WHO didn't expect an insurgency???!

"Stand tall and publicly tell the America people the truth about another bad war that could well lead to another died-in-vain black wall. Or even worse."
-Col. David Hackworth
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=29786

"Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."
-President GHW Bush, 1998;
http://www.rense.com/general43/quote.htm

"Do we really want to occupy Iraq for the next 30 years? …In Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends. In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets…. Nations such as China can only view the prospect of an American military consumed for the next generation by the turmoil of the Middle East as a glorious windfall."
-James Webb, former Sec. of Navy under Ronald Reagan, Decorated Marine Veteran
http://www.sftt.org/article09302002a.html

"We are about to do something that will ignite a fuse in this region that we will rue the day we ever started."
-Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Head of Central Command for U.S.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/17/zinni

"A billion bitter enemies will rise out of this war."
- Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2003, Full page ad in Wall Street Journal by major GOP contributors
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/001444.html

"Right now, the course we're on, we're achieving Bin Laden's ends…. I've never seen it so bad between the office of the secretary of defense and the military. There's a significant majority believing this is a disaster.

The two parties whose interests have been advanced have been the Iranians and al-Qaeda. Bin Laden could argue with some cogency that our going into Iraq was the equivalent of the Germans in Stalingrad. They defeated themselves by pouring more in there. Tragic."
-Gen. William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091704Y.shtml

"The idea that this is going to go the way these guys planned is ludicrous. There are no good options."
-General Joseph Hoare, the former marine commandant and head of US Central Command
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091704Y.shtml

[Barkley]

46. Oops! he's not supposed to call them "insurgents"

I thought Rummy banned use of "insurgents".

[leesa]

48. They thought they could murder tens of thousands of Iraqis without any

repercussions at all. Some fantasy land these criminals live in, eh?

[WhiteTara]

50. may they all rot in hell n/t

[ckramer]

52. Didn't see the insurgency coming? Duh!!!

What was the Bush gang thinking? Maybe they thought they were merely taking over a corporation called Iraq. LOL

[SOS]

53. Bush's knowledge of Iraq, January 2003

Eight weeks before the invasion:

Peter Galbraith - former U.S. diplomat, January 2003: "The President invited three members of the Iraqi opposition to join him to watch the Super Bowl. In the course of the conversation the Iraqis realized that the President was not aware that there was a difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. He looked at them and said, "You mean...they're not, you know, there, there's this difference. What is it about?"

[teryang]

55. What a crooked SOB

This guy was touted as a "terrorism" expert. People are so gullible. Fool me once...how does that go?

[Tight_rope]

56. And this coming from the same guy who ran like a bat outta hell...

the day we gave Irag their soverienty. I swear these people just kill me (with laughter):rofl:

[rocktivity]

58. You were TOLD to expect an insurgency

especially with the manpower levels you wanted to employ. Maybe what Bremer should be asking why nobody listened!

:eyes:
rocknation

[GoddessOfGuinness]

59. We fucking invade their country on false pretenses

and their supposed to like it? :eyes:

[Up2Late]

61. O.K., which is it? Bremmer is either Lying, OR he's the Dumbest...

...U.S. Diplomat....EVER! :banghead: :grr:

[Solly Mack]

63. Just more lies to shape the reality they're selling to the people

thinking that it's better to be thought a fool/misguided/misinformed than a liar.

A fool can be forgiven - a liar is harder to forgive...

a fool can be misguided (and it's no surprise when they are)

a fool is expected to be wrong

a fool would read "bad intelligence" and believe the misinformation (so it's not the fool's fault - it's the fault of bad intel)

But if you're lying, then it's your fault.


The Bush Regime would rather people think them fools/idiots/dolts/dunderheads/stupid - than criminal liars. People laugh at fools - even hold them in contempt - but they seldom get angry enough to "do something" about it - People do get angry over being lied to however...

[Judi Lynn]

64. True. A fool still can be thought to be good-hearted. Forgiveness is the

word.

These people want to do evil things, yet seek protection from responsibility for their actions. Hard to believe they DARED to call themselves the party of "personal responsibility," isn't it?

[Warren Stupidity]

65. Gee that is odd.

Considering that they did everything they could think of to make sure that an insurgency developed. I simply assumed that they wanted an insurgency to justify permanent occupation of the region. I guess I was wrong.

[go west young man]

66. Let's see...

he disbanded the Iraqi army, left all ammunition depots ungaurded (giving the insurgents the equivelent of a nuclear bomb in firepower), left the antiquities museum to be ransacked destroying thier national history, didn't restore utilities, let people walk off with millions of dollars from the back of trucks with no accountability, let prisoner abuse take place and pretty much shot first and asked questions later thereby fueling the insurgency. Everything Bremer and the NeoCons have done has fed into the insurgency. They are idiots!

[Doctor_J]

67. Just when I think the BFEE's corruption is worse than the incomptence,

along comes Medal o' Freedom winner Bremer to prove that thy are just as incompetent as they are corrupt.

[Hyernel]

68. Sure...History always shows that invaders are welcomed with open arms...

...Especially when they're of a different religion.

:bluebox::sarcasm::bluebox:

[Doctor_J]

70. and on a self-described "crusade"

led by a drunken poseur.

:sarcasm:

[spanone]

69. Bremer can add 'stupid-ass' to his resume.

[mitchum]

73. Okay, you're a fucking idiot, Paul...nice to see you admit it finally

[greiner3]

75. Well, at least he admitted he's not all powerful;

That alone raised him a notch with me.

[eppur_se_muova]

76. Can you say D'OH!, boys and girls?

Probably wasn't expecting warm, dry weather either.

[mvd]

77. They've gotten it wrong all along, so..

why do they expect us to believe that things will be better if we stay the course? We should have reduced military levels significantly a long time ago. The Sunnis might be more willing to reconcile if we weren't there - and this goes against their chaos argument.