WASHINGTON, 13 November 2003 — Following urgent discussions yesterday with President Bush and the National Security Council, Paul Bremer, the top US official in Iraq, told journalists at the White House that he was immediately returning to Iraq.
This is newsworthy because he had earlier said he would return to Iraq if, and only if, the president had made some key decisions regarding Iraq and the Iraqi governing council. Bremer was originally scheduled to remain in Washington for several days.
Bremer, who heads the Coalition Provision Authority in Iraq, gave no details of yesterday’s intense discussions. Upon his arrival Tuesday, he immediately met with Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, CIA director George Tenet, and others.
A CIA field report from Iraq distributed in Washington over the weekend provided a dreary summary of the situation there. A senior administration official familiar with the classified report told a newspaper here that attacks on US troops and personnel have escalated to 30 to 35 daily. It also said the Governing Council has been unable to move toward a constitution or elections and has not gained support, or trust, from the Iraqi people.
The White House believes the Iraqi Governing Council needs a kick-start to get a constitution and the government established. It is also increasingly concerned about the political transition as an UN-imposed Dec. 15 deadline for the Iraqi Government Council approaches.
One proposal is to provide an interim constitution that could be produced in weeks, as the US did in Afghanistan. A second proposal is for a firm timetable for local and national elections.
Concerned by escalating violence against US soldiers in Iraq, US officials believe the establishment of Iraq’s sovereignty is critical in pacifying Iraqis and ending the deadly attacks on American troops.
“It’s not just the security piece that needs to come along,” Gen. Richard Myers, Joint Chiefs chairman, said during a Veteran’s Day appearance Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show. “What also needs to come along is the governance piece, to give Iraqis a sense that, hey, they’re in charge of their country, to give them some responsibility for how that turns out, and also the economic piece, the infrastructure piece and how we communicate what’s going on to the Iraqi people and to the region.”
Recent polls here show that disapproval for the US role in Iraq is gaining momentum, which has caused concerns for the Bush administration. The president is heading into a presidential campaign next year and does not want criticism about the US occupation of Iraq to hurt his party’s chances of returning to the White House.
In an interesting side note, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has made it known that he dislikes American administration officials, and officers in Iraq, to use the term “guerilla war” when referring to Iraqi-led insurgencies against the US. He said it makes the enemy sound like an organized band of freedom fighters, which could led to a negative association of the US involvement there. “We’re in a low-intensity war that needs to be won,” Rumsfeld told CBS Tuesday. “And we intend to win it.”
