This was sent to me yesterday dealing with iraq war it will be broadcast tonight on bbc news about the iraq war here is the transcript of the realese
as well as the location to hear and see the upcomming interview with the general online.
Press Realese by David Leigh\Greg Palast
Subject: The Guardian: General sacked by Bush says he wanted early elections
The Guardian: General sacked by Bush says he wanted early elections
by David Leigh
London-
Jay Garner, the US general abruptly dismissed as Iraq's first occupation
administrator after a month in the job, says he fell out with the Bush
circle after he called for swift and free elections and rejected an imposed
programme of privatisation.
In an interview to be broadcast on BBC Newsnight, Friday, March 19, he
says: "My preference was to put the Iraqis in charge as soon as we can, and
do it with some form of elections ... I just thought it was necessary to
rapidly get the Iraqis in charge of their destiny." [The BBC program will
air at 10:30 GMT; it will also be available at 7:30 PM EST on the internet
at
www.bbc.co.uk...]
Asked by the reporter Greg Palast if he foresaw negative repercussions from
the subsequent US imposition of mass privatisation , Gen Garner said: "I
don't know ... we'll just have to wait and see." It would have been better
for the Iraqis to take decisions themselves, even if they made mistakes, he
said.
"What I was trying to do was get to a functioning government ... We as
Americans like to put our template on things. And our template's good, but
it's not necessarily good for everyone else."
Describing his dismissal after he called for elections , he said: "The
night I got to Baghdad, [the defence secretary Donald] Rumsfeld called me
and told me he was appointing Paul Bremer as the presidential envoy ... The
announcement ... was somewhat abrupt."
Gen Garner was careful not to criticise his successor directly. He said the
imposition before elections of free market economic schemes drawn up by the
US as early as 2001 "was a more orderly approach" than his own.
But he had wanted the Iraqis to decide economic policy for themselves.
"They'll make mistakes, and that's OK ... I don't think they need to go by
the US plan."
Despite being a protege of Mr Rumsfeld, Gen Garner was the subject of what
was alleged to be a White House whispering campaign, describing him as weak
A year after the invasion, his disclosure of policy differences with the
White House highlights the dilemma still faced by the US occupation forces.
Greg Palast is author of the New York Times bestseller, "The Best Democracy
Money Can Buy." View Palast's writings for Harper's, The Guardian (UK) and
BBC television at www.GregPalast.com.
This should be a good interview
Falcon
