Bremer said he urged more postwar troops in Iraq

[sabra]

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

Bremer said he urged more postwar troops in Iraq

WASHINGTON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - L. Paul Bremer, who led the U.S. civilian occupation authority in Iraq after the 2003 invasion, urged U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to increase U.S. postwar troop strength in the country, but his pleas were ignored, the former diplomat said.

In an interview on NBC Television broadcast Sunday night, Bremer said he sent a memo to Rumsfeld suggesting that half a million soldiers would be needed, three times the number deployed by the Bush administration.

"I never had any reaction from him," Bremer told NBC's Brian Williams on "Dateline."

...

Asked why he did not go public with his concerns, Bremer defended what he considered his obligation to "tell the president what you think ... in private, through the appropriate channels, as I tried to do."

[bemildred]

1. Bremer really needs to STFU, he has done "enough" for America.

:puke::puke:

[asjr]

2. Agreed. He just put a little more tarnish on

the medal he received.

[TheGunslinger]

3. *cough*bullshit*cough*.... Bremer doesn't have a book due, does he?

Besides, wtf would he know about troop numbers?

[peekaloo]

4. How much money went missing from the CPA when Lil Paul was around?

such an honorable man. :sarcasm:

[ConcernedCanuk]

5. Put aside the fact that it came from Bremer

.
.
.

at the time, he was right

The USA never secured the borders, allowing all the negative factions to infiltrate

I do not think for once second that the USA invasion and occupation is justified, but for it to have succeeded, many more troops were/are needed

As it stands, the USA is fumbling around without enough manpower to control the country - that's pretty obvious

The US did their "superpower" thing with the bombs and missiles, but still haven't got control of the war on the ground, never will. The USA is in a country that didn't want them there, doesn't want them there, and the relatives and children of the innocents they keep killing will haunt them for generations to come - some are already in the USA, and more will come . .

I have no illusions about Bremer being a puppet of the USA Administration, and pretty much a weasel, but he was right on on that one -

The USA went in with far too few troops to have realistically expected to be able to control Iraq

That's my Canuk opinion anyhoo . . . .

[gratuitous]

12. Too late smart

I never saw anything in the news about Bremer's dissatisfaction with troop levels at the time he was running the CPA. But I do know that some $9 billion went missing on his watch. Maybe if Bremer had been more assiduous about his job than in doing whatever he was actually doing, some of these enduring problems wouldn't have endured.

[LynnTheDem]

6. But BUSH said NO ONE asked for more troops and if they had, he'd

have given them more...although of course we don't have more troops to give.

Gee, Bremer must be another of them pretend-republicans, lying & just trying to make bush look bad. Sure are a lot of them.

[BikeWriter]

8. Rumsfeld fired General Shinseki for saying more troops...

were needed.

[bluestateguy]

7. Um, OK, anyway...

I hear Angelina Jolie is pregnant.

[wake.up.america]

9. The rats are running into each other as they try to jump ship.

If this were not so tragic, it would be hilarious, as these guys try the old ploy, "Yeah, I tried to say something about it, but nobody listened".

[The Magistrate]

10. He Is A Lying Turd, Sir

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[Roland99]

11. PROOF that Bremer is a LIAR >>>>

I culled this from another forum's archives:

posted: 07/29/2003

http://www.newhavenregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=9915408&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7581&rfi=6

...The role of Iraqis in providing security is steadily increasing. Bremer expects to have U.S. troops relieved of many of their "static positions" by Iraqi forces in the near future...

Sure looks like he was calling for extra troops, eh?