New administrator takes over in Iraq
Patrick E. Tyler and Edmund L. Andrews/NYT The New York Times Monday, May 12, 2003
A second effort by U.S. to curb violence that is blocking nation's reconstruction
BAGHDAD The top American in charge of rebuilding Iraq arrived here Monday and began his work to try to control the violence and breakdown of civil order that are paralyzing the U.S. effort to stabilize the nation.
.
The official, L. Paul Bremer 3d, a counterterrorism veteran at the State Department, is scheduled to meet with many of Iraq's leading political figures Wednesday.
.
Bremer will be working with the Iraqis to convene a national assembly meeting. He sent an advance team to Baghdad on Sunday.
.
His arrival represents a turning point in the U.S. effort to secure the peace. President George W. Bush appointed Bremer last week as the top administrator in Iraq, taking over from Jay Garner, the retired American lieutenant general who came to Baghdad on April 21 to oversee the U.S. effort to restore services as rapidly as possible. Garner promised upon his arrival that the Americans would not overstay their welcome in Iraq.
.
Bush administration officials said over the weekend that Garner would leave Baghdad within a week or two and that other senior American officials here would also be replaced.
.
The situation in Baghdad and much of the rest of Iraq is tumultuous, with Baghdad once again a city of almost hourly eruptions of gunfire.
.
"Unless we do something in the near future, it is likely to blow up in our face," a U.S. official said.
.
As part of the American transition, Barbara Bodine, who has been in charge of reconstruction in the Baghdad region, was abruptly given notice of her removal. She will be leaving within the next day or two, U.S. officials said.
.
Bodine, a former ambassador to Yemen, will take a senior post at the State Department in Washington, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times both reported.
.
Others expected to leave soon include Margaret Tutwiler, who had been in charge of communications under Garner; Tim Carney, a former ambassador who had been overseeing the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals; David Dunford, a senior Foreign Service specialist on the Middle East, and John Limbert, the ambassador to Mauritania.
.
On Monday, black smoke billowed over Baghdad's skyline as looters set fire to the city's former telephone communications center, apparently as a distraction for others who tried to steal cars nearby.
.
On the other side of the city, hundreds of looters, who now range through the city every day, poured into a former palace of Saddam Hussein after American military units decided to vacate it.
.
Criminals are shooting at other criminals, officials said. Families are settling scores, and some Iraqis are just taking potshots at U.S. forces.
.
From the outset, the task of quickly re-establishing order and civil administration in Iraq was far more daunting than American officials had planned for, they now acknowledge. A month into reconstruction, there is still no functioning police force in Baghdad.
.
But colleagues of Bodine said she had recognized many of the problems early on and had clashed repeatedly with military commanders over drastic steps she thought were needed to restore order.
.
"They recognized that public order had broken down in a far more serious way than they had expected," an official said of Garner's team.
.
As for Bodine, "Of course it was not her fault," a colleague said. "If you keep on pointing out to people the obvious, that doesn't make you very popular." Symptomatic was Bodine's insistence on hiring at least 50 top-flight interpreters for Garner's staff so they could interact and communicate effortlessly with Iraqis. But even now language support remains a sore point, an official said. Since the onset of the war in March, security has been the chief obstacle to Garner's mission, officials said. His teams of administrators live in isolation behind razor wire and machine-gun positions at Saddam's Republican Palace.
.
Tutwiler, a veteran of public relations consulting since her days with former Secretary of State James Baker, refused to meet with the press in Baghdad.
.
"The question was who was in charge," an official said. Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the land forces commander for the allies, issued an edict that he was the ultimate authority in the country.
.
Bodine's departure caught many officials by surprise, but it appeared to reflect Bremer's influence. One official said Bremer had long had misgivings about Bodine's appointment, although he added that it was not clear whether those misgivings stemmed from her tenure as ambassador to Yemen or from other issues.
.
"This was not the original plan," the official said, noting that the State Department had pressed hard for her appointment. "It was not something that was supposed to be a two-to-three-week gig."
.
"The coming weeks will be crucial to get Iraq back to some kind of business as usual," said Michael Curtis, a spokesman for the EU humanitarian aid commissioner, Poul Nielson.
.
Nielson visited Baghdad last week. He said that shortfalls in food, medicine and essential services had not yet reached crisis level. But he said there was a "real risk" of the situation worsening dramatically if security was not improved.
< < Back to Start of Article A second effort by U.S. to curb violence that is blocking nation's reconstruction
BAGHDAD The top American in charge of rebuilding Iraq arrived here Monday and began his work to try to control the violence and breakdown of civil order that are paralyzing the U.S. effort to stabilize the nation.
.
The official, L. Paul Bremer 3d, a counterterrorism veteran at the State Department, is scheduled to meet with many of Iraq's leading political figures Wednesday.
.
Bremer will be working with the Iraqis to convene a national assembly meeting. He sent an advance team to Baghdad on Sunday.
.
His arrival represents a turning point in the U.S. effort to secure the peace. President George W. Bush appointed Bremer last week as the top administrator in Iraq, taking over from Jay Garner, the retired American lieutenant general who came to Baghdad on April 21 to oversee the U.S. effort to restore services as rapidly as possible. Garner promised upon his arrival that the Americans would not overstay their welcome in Iraq.
.
Bush administration officials said over the weekend that Garner would leave Baghdad within a week or two and that other senior American officials here would also be replaced.
.
The situation in Baghdad and much of the rest of Iraq is tumultuous, with Baghdad once again a city of almost hourly eruptions of gunfire.
.
"Unless we do something in the near future, it is likely to blow up in our face," a U.S. official said.
.
As part of the American transition, Barbara Bodine, who has been in charge of reconstruction in the Baghdad region, was abruptly given notice of her removal. She will be leaving within the next day or two, U.S. officials said.
.
Bodine, a former ambassador to Yemen, will take a senior post at the State Department in Washington, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times both reported.
.
Others expected to leave soon include Margaret Tutwiler, who had been in charge of communications under Garner; Tim Carney, a former ambassador who had been overseeing the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals; David Dunford, a senior Foreign Service specialist on the Middle East, and John Limbert, the ambassador to Mauritania.
.
On Monday, black smoke billowed over Baghdad's skyline as looters set fire to the city's former telephone communications center, apparently as a distraction for others who tried to steal cars nearby.
.
On the other side of the city, hundreds of looters, who now range through the city every day, poured into a former palace of Saddam Hussein after American military units decided to vacate it.
.
Criminals are shooting at other criminals, officials said. Families are settling scores, and some Iraqis are just taking potshots at U.S. forces.
.
From the outset, the task of quickly re-establishing order and civil administration in Iraq was far more daunting than American officials had planned for, they now acknowledge. A month into reconstruction, there is still no functioning police force in Baghdad.
.
But colleagues of Bodine said she had recognized many of the problems early on and had clashed repeatedly with military commanders over drastic steps she thought were needed to restore order.
.
"They recognized that public order had broken down in a far more serious way than they had expected," an official said of Garner's team.
.
As for Bodine, "Of course it was not her fault," a colleague said. "If you keep on pointing out to people the obvious, that doesn't make you very popular." Symptomatic was Bodine's insistence on hiring at least 50 top-flight interpreters for Garner's staff so they could interact and communicate effortlessly with Iraqis. But even now language support remains a sore point, an official said. Since the onset of the war in March, security has been the chief obstacle to Garner's mission, officials said. His teams of administrators live in isolation behind razor wire and machine-gun positions at Saddam's Republican Palace.
.
Tutwiler, a veteran of public relations consulting since her days with former Secretary of State James Baker, refused to meet with the press in Baghdad.
.
"The question was who was in charge," an official said. Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the land forces commander for the allies, issued an edict that he was the ultimate authority in the country.
.
Bodine's departure caught many officials by surprise, but it appeared to reflect Bremer's influence. One official said Bremer had long had misgivings about Bodine's appointment, although he added that it was not clear whether those misgivings stemmed from her tenure as ambassador to Yemen or from other issues.
.
"This was not the original plan," the official said, noting that the State Department had pressed hard for her appointment. "It was not something that was supposed to be a two-to-three-week gig."
.
"The coming weeks will be crucial to get Iraq back to some kind of business as usual," said Michael Curtis, a spokesman for the EU humanitarian aid commissioner, Poul Nielson.
.
Nielson visited Baghdad last week. He said that shortfalls in food, medicine and essential services had not yet reached crisis level. But he said there was a "real risk" of the situation worsening dramatically if security was not improved. A second effort by U.S. to curb violence that is blocking nation's reconstruction
BAGHDAD The top American in charge of rebuilding Iraq arrived here Monday and began his work to try to control the violence and breakdown of civil order that are paralyzing the U.S. effort to stabilize the nation.
.
The official, L. Paul Bremer 3d, a counterterrorism veteran at the State Department, is scheduled to meet with many of Iraq's leading political figures Wednesday.
.
Bremer will be working with the Iraqis to convene a national assembly meeting. He sent an advance team to Baghdad on Sunday.
.
His arrival represents a turning point in the U.S. effort to secure the peace. President George W. Bush appointed Bremer last week as the top administrator in Iraq, taking over from Jay Garner, the retired American lieutenant general who came to Baghdad on April 21 to oversee the U.S. effort to restore services as rapidly as possible. Garner promised upon his arrival that the Americans would not overstay their welcome in Iraq.
.
Bush administration officials said over the weekend that Garner would leave Baghdad within a week or two and that other senior American officials here would also be replaced.
.
The situation in Baghdad and much of the rest of Iraq is tumultuous, with Baghdad once again a city of almost hourly eruptions of gunfire.
.
"Unless we do something in the near future, it is likely to blow up in our face," a U.S. official said.
.
As part of the American transition, Barbara Bodine, who has been in charge of reconstruction in the Baghdad region, was abruptly given notice of her removal. She will be leaving within the next day or two, U.S. officials said.
.
Bodine, a former ambassador to Yemen, will take a senior post at the State Department in Washington, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times both reported.
.
Others expected to leave soon include Margaret Tutwiler, who had been in charge of communications under Garner; Tim Carney, a former ambassador who had been overseeing the Iraqi Ministry of Industry and Minerals; David Dunford, a senior Foreign Service specialist on the Middle East, and John Limbert, the ambassador to Mauritania.
.
On Monday, black smoke billowed over Baghdad's skyline as looters set fire to the city's former telephone communications center, apparently as a distraction for others who tried to steal cars nearby.
.
On the other side of the city, hundreds of looters, who now range through the city every day, poured into a former palace of Saddam Hussein after American military units decided to vacate it.
.
Criminals are shooting at other criminals, officials said. Families are settling scores, and some Iraqis are just taking potshots at U.S. forces.
.
From the outset, the task of quickly re-establishing order and civil administration in Iraq was far more daunting than American officials had planned for, they now acknowledge. A month into reconstruction, there is still no functioning police force in Baghdad.
.
But colleagues of Bodine said she had recognized many of the problems early on and had clashed repeatedly with military commanders over drastic steps she thought were needed to restore order.
.
"They recognized that public order had broken down in a far more serious way than they had expected," an official said of Garner's team.
.
As for Bodine, "Of course it was not her fault," a colleague said. "If you keep on pointing out to people the obvious, that doesn't make you very popular." Symptomatic was Bodine's insistence on hiring at least 50 top-flight interpreters for Garner's staff so they could interact and communicate effortlessly with Iraqis. But even now language support remains a sore point, an official said. Since the onset of the war in March, security has been the chief obstacle to Garner's mission, officials said. His teams of administrators live in isolation behind razor wire and machine-gun positions at Saddam's Republican Palace.
.
Tutwiler, a veteran of public relations consulting since her days with former Secretary of State James Baker, refused to meet with the press in Baghdad.
.
"The question was who was in charge," an official said. Lieutenant General David McKiernan, the land forces commander for the allies, issued an edict that he was the ultimate authority in the country.
.
Bodine's departure caught many officials by surprise, but it appeared to reflect Bremer's influence. One official said Bremer had long had misgivings about Bodine's appointment, although he added that it was not clear whether those misgivings stemmed from her tenure as ambassador to Yemen or from other issues.
.
"This was not the original plan," the official said, noting that the State Department had pressed hard for her appointment. "It was not something that was supposed to be a two-to-three-week gig."
.
"The coming weeks will be crucial to get Iraq back to some kind of business as usual," said Michael Curtis, a spokesman for the EU humanitarian aid commissioner, Poul Nielson.
.
Nielson visited Baghdad last week. He said that shortfalls in food, medicine and essential services had not yet reached crisis level. But he said there was a "real risk" of the situation worsening dramatically if security was not improved. A second effort by U.S. to curb violence that is blocking nation's reconstruction
BAGHDAD The top American in charge of rebuilding Iraq arrived here Monday and began his work to try to control the violence and breakdown of civil order that are paralyzing the U.S. effort to stabilize the nation.
.
The official, L. Paul Bremer 3d, a counterterrorism veteran at the State Department, is scheduled to meet with many of Iraq's leading political figures Wednesday.
.
Bremer will be working with the Iraqis to convene a national assembly meeting. He sent an advance team to Baghdad on Sunday.
.
His arrival represents a turning point in the U.S. effort to secure the peace. President George W. Bush appointed Bremer last week as the top administrator in Iraq, taking over from Jay Garner, the retired American lieutenant general who came to Baghdad on April 21 to oversee the U.S. effort to restore services as rapidly as possible. Garner promised upon his arrival that the Americans would not overstay their welcome in Iraq.
.
Bush administration officials said over the weekend that Garner would leave Baghdad within a week or two and that other senior American officials here would also be replaced.
.
The situation in Baghdad and much of the rest of Iraq is tumultuous, with Baghdad once again a city of almost hourly eruptions of gunfire.
.
"Unless we do something in the near future, it is likely to blow up in our face," a U.S. official said. |
