Paul Bremer's criticism of Bush bolsters Kerry
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry seized yesterday on new criticism of Iraq policy by the former U.S. administrator there, to bolster his case that President Bush has mismanaged the war.
In at least two recent appearances, former administrator Paul Bremer said the United States didn't have enough troops in Iraq after the fall of Baghdad and failed to contain chaos.
Kerry, standing in a cornfield outside Tipton (Iowa) Middle School, said Bremer "now believes that we made two mistakes" in Iraq: "We didn't send enough troops to get the job done. And two, we didn't contain the violence and looting after Saddam was deposed."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush based his decisions on troop levels on advice from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and military commanders, not Bremer.
Bremer has been considered a possible replacement for Secretary of State Colin Powell in a second Bush term. Bush named Bremer to head the civilian side of the U.S. occupation in Iraq in May 2003. Since returning to the USA in June, Bremer has gone on the lecture circuit.
Though defending the decision to invade Iraq, Bremer has joined a small group of Republicans and other U.S. officials who have acknowledged serious problems in Iraq and mistakes in planning. That group includes Sens. Richard Lugar of Indiana and Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Paul Pillar, the CIA's top specialist on the Middle East and South Asia.
Before the invasion, Gen. Eric Shinseki, then the Army chief of staff, irritated the Bush administration by saying several hundred thousand troops would be necessary, not so much to topple Saddam but to secure the country.
McClellan refused to say whether Bremer had pleaded with Bush for more troops. "We never get into reading out all the conversations they had," he said.
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