I was scapegoat for Bush, Bremer claims

The Bush administration is under more pressure over its handling of the war in Iraq after Paul Bremer, the former head of the coalition provisional authority, claimed his request for more troops was rejected by the Pentagon and the White House.

Mr Bremer, the man most commonly associated with implementing postwar policies that led to the rise of the insurgency, has claimed that senior US military officials including the defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, tried to make him a scapegoat for their failings.

In a memoir published this week, Mr Bremer says that from the time he took the job in May 2003, shortly after the fall of Baghdad, he had misgivings about coalition troop levels and raised the issue a number of times with administration officials, including George Bush.

Guardian UK

Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Paul Bremer, is no angel. Lot's of money wound up missing under his watch. Is he responsible for Iraq's failures? Or is he just another in a long line of government officials that tried to save the Iraq invasion and occupation from an inept administration?

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[edit on 11/1/2006 by Mirthful Me]

I say he is reponsible for messing up in the early days of his by by disbanding the Iraqi Army and leaving many unemployed to the point they join the insurgency with ease with personal reasons either money or nationalist. Now we have to restart a new Iraqi Army which is being slaughtered by the insurgency that will give no breathing ground for the Iraqi Army.

Not to mention that too many troops sounds like we intend to stay there forever in the Iraqis view. Better to let them take on the job where they do checkpoints and small raids when prepared, while the American soldiers take on the harder jobs as of right now. It will be awhile before the Iraqis are confident they can defend themselves with the right equipment and training.

The tactics he used in Iraq after the invasion were the ones that now US is paying for with the casualties of war.

I do not trust what he said.

Actually it wasn't him the one that ask for more military or hinted that more troops were needed.

Former army chief of staff general Eric Shinseki warned Congress before the US invaded Iraq in March 2003 that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to occupy the country.

Remember Rusmfeld did nothing about.

It seems that now Bremen is feeling the heat, for such lack of advise.

Great, another "Boo-Hoo! I was victimized, mislead, and setup by my government" - NOW PLEASE BUY MY BOOK (NOT!)

I agree with the posts above - where the heck IS the $6+ BILLION of unaccounted Pentagon money (a thread worthy unto itself I would think). But, of course, no one knows squat or has any accountability.

FYI, He's going to be on Hannity & Colmes in just a few minutes...

It appears that the title of this thread as well as the article is a gross exaggeration of what Bremer said in his book. He did say that he had disagreements with the Bush admin, but never anywhere close to saying anything like he was a scapegoat. In fact, he did say that he supports the president and the war.

Pure hype...

[edit on 1/11/2006 by djohnsto77]