Larry Johnson---The Arrogance and Hubris of Jerry Bremer

[rodeodance]

"Jerry and others can try to rewrite history to rehab their reputations, but the facts on the ground in Iraq will not and should not permit that kind of delusional revisionism. We are not in the position we are today by accident. It was a deliberate choice. From George Bush to Medal of Freedom winners Jerry Bremer and George Tenet, choices were made where alternative information and expertise were ignored. This deadly combination of arrogance and hubris has produced a policy in Iraq that is killing American soldiers and Iraqi civilians and is weakening U.S. influence and prestige in the Middle East. I think it is a time for humility, a virtue sadly lacking in Jerry Bremer’s new book."

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/01/the_arrogance_a.html

> The Arrogance and Hubris of Jerry Bremer
>
> by Larry C. Johnson
>
> As Jerry Bremer hits the media circuit to tout his new book, which chronicles his tenure as the head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq, he insists that he and the Administration never anticipated that an insurgency would emerge in Iraq. I am sure Jerry believes what he is saying, but he is wrong. I tried to warn him and I tried to hook him up with genuine experts on Iraq before he went to Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Jerry refused to listen and declined the help. Although Jerry is a brilliant, capable man, he was unwilling to listen to others or accept facts that contradicted the Administration’s conventional wisdom. Jerry’s arrogance in Iraq was symptomatic of the entire Bush Administration’s approach to policy and accounts in large measure for the mess we now face.
>
> My comments about Jerry Bremer are made as someone who considered himself a friend of Jerry’s. I have known L. Paul Bremer aka “Jerry” in various capacities for more than 25 years. We first met when I was an instructor in the Washington Semester program in 1980 and he was an up and comer at the State Department. Later he served as the Coordinator for Counter Terrorism at State Department (1987 thru 1989). I started working in that office shortly after he left. While I do not claim to be a close personal friend, I have had a professional relationship with him dating back to 1994 and was called by him on several occasions for a briefing on the latest developments in the counter terrorism community. I was in regular contact with him until he took the job in Iraq.
>
> Warned About the Insurgency
>
> In January of 2003 I was appalled by the misinformation being peddled by the Administration of George W. Bush regarding Iraq’s support for terrorism. Contrary to the claims by President George W., Iraq did not have operational ties with the Islamic extremists who attacked us and confined its support to groups that were attacking Israel and Iran. In fact, Iraq had never been implicated in any mass casualty terrorist attack..........

[Wetzelbill]

1. Larry Johnson is great.. a true patriot

he could have sat back and become a Republican shill and collected paychecks. Instead he went against the grain and with his conscience. His consistently intelligent analysis is always dead on.