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BREMER MISLEADS ABOUT HIS OWN COMMENTS
Some of the administration's strongest allies are expressing their disappointment with the administration's planning in Iraq. For example, former head of the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority, L. Paul Bremer, said on Monday that "We never had enough troops on the ground" in Iraq.<1>
Today, in the New York Times, Bremer attempted to limit the damage to the administration. Bremer - in a piece entitled "What I Really Said About Iraq" - claimed he only said it "would have been helpful to have had more troops early on to stop the looting."<2> Despite the title, that isn't what Bremer said. Bremer said there weren't enough troops at any time. He made similar comments in a 9/16/04 speech at DePauw University, saying, "The single most important change - the one thing that would have improved the situation - would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout."<3>
CNN reports a senior Defense Department spokesperson said that "Bremer never asked for more troops."<4> But on 7/1/03, Knight Ridder reported, "The top American administrator in Iraq
, confronting growing anti-U.S. anger and guerrilla-style attacks, is asking for more American troops."<5>
Sources:
1. "Bremer Criticizes Troop Levels," Whashington Post, 10/05/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=61557.
2. "What I Really Said About Iraq," New York Times, 10/08/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=61558.
3. "Bremer Criticizes Troop Levels," Whashington Post, 10/05/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=61557.
4. "Bremer: More troops were needed after Saddam's ouster," CNN, 10/05/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=61559.
5. "Bremer requests more troops as violence, tension escalate," Mercury News, 7/1/03, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=61560.