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Rebuilding Iraq not an easy task: Bremer
New York, July 07: The American head of the coalition provisional authority in Iraq has claimed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein took 35 years to run the country down and `it`s not going to take 35 days to fix it.`
New York, July 07: The American head of the coalition provisional authority in Iraq has claimed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein took 35 years to run the country down and "it's not going to take 35 days to fix it."
"People need to be patient. And I know that's heard when the temperature 124 degrees and the electricity goes off. But that's the message and that's the only message," l. Paul
Bremer told 'Time' magazine.
His team, he asserted, has achieved "quite a lot of progress" on its three main priorities: restoring law and order, reviving the economy and moving toward the establishment of a new Iraqi government. Time says since taking control of the US' postwar operation in early may, Bremer has earned near unanimous backing inside the administration because of his "toughness, pragmatism and devotion to the job."
Bremer says he hopes Iraqis will vote for a new national government sometime next year. "This place can blossom, as it did in the 1950s," he said "it's a proud country with really good people. And they can succeed. What's the alternative? That's what I'd like to say to them: what's the alternative? Do you really think you'd be better off if we pulled our troops out of here? Do you really think Iraq would be better off if we left?'"
Bremer called the recent attacks on US troops "terrorist acts" being waged by members of the former regime fully aware of how "how run down the infrastructure is, which makes it very fragile and vulnerable to these types of attacks.
Bureau Report
His team, he asserted, has achieved "quite a lot of progress" on its three main priorities: restoring law and order, reviving the economy and moving toward the establishment of a new Iraqi government. Time says since taking control of the US' postwar operation in early may, Bremer has earned near unanimous backing inside the administration because of his "toughness, pragmatism and devotion to the job."
Bremer says he hopes Iraqis will vote for a new national government sometime next year. "This place can blossom, as it did in the 1950s," he said "it's a proud country with really good people. And they can succeed. What's the alternative? That's what I'd like to say to them: what's the alternative? Do you really think you'd be better off if we pulled our troops out of here? Do you really think Iraq would be better off if we left?'"
Bremer called the recent attacks on US troops "terrorist acts" being waged by members of the former regime fully aware of how "how run down the infrastructure is, which makes it very fragile and vulnerable to these types of attacks.
Bureau Report