Tony
23rd May 2003, 03:49 PM
http://slate.msn.com/id/2083485/ ..full article
By now, Paul Bremer must have come to grips with the enormity of the task facing him. As President Bush's special envoy and the chief U.S. civilian in Iraq, he must mediate among fierce tribal factions riven by ancient hatreds. And that's just in the Bush administration.
Bureaucratic infighting between the State Department and the Defense Department helped topple Bremer's predecessor, Jay Garner, who presided over an embarrassing debacle in Baghdad that the New Republic has compared to an "an Arab version of the Watts riots." Turf wars between Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon predate the Bush administration, of course, but Bremer may be able to bridge the long-running divide. After all, his short tenure in Iraq has managed so far to combine the best elements from both departments: With the neoconservatives at the Pentagon, Bremer shares a loathing for militant Islamic radicalism and a desire for a free Iraq. But like the realists in Foggy Bottom, he understands the need—at least in the short run—for stability over democracy.
I am a cautious optimist.
By now, Paul Bremer must have come to grips with the enormity of the task facing him. As President Bush's special envoy and the chief U.S. civilian in Iraq, he must mediate among fierce tribal factions riven by ancient hatreds. And that's just in the Bush administration.
Bureaucratic infighting between the State Department and the Defense Department helped topple Bremer's predecessor, Jay Garner, who presided over an embarrassing debacle in Baghdad that the New Republic has compared to an "an Arab version of the Watts riots." Turf wars between Foggy Bottom and the Pentagon predate the Bush administration, of course, but Bremer may be able to bridge the long-running divide. After all, his short tenure in Iraq has managed so far to combine the best elements from both departments: With the neoconservatives at the Pentagon, Bremer shares a loathing for militant Islamic radicalism and a desire for a free Iraq. But like the realists in Foggy Bottom, he understands the need—at least in the short run—for stability over democracy.
I am a cautious optimist.