- Title: IRAQ: BREMER PAYS TRIBUTE TO U.N. WORKERS AT PRESS CONFERENCE.
- Date: 23rd August 2003
- Summary: (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (AUGUST 23, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ AT NEWS CONFERENCE 2. JOURNALISTS AT THE NEWSCONFERENCE 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) PAUL BREMER, US ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ SAYING: "This week I mourn all those deaths of those murdered in the effort to prevent recovery and progress in Iraq. But let me say this: those yearning for the return of Baathism will be disappointed and those seeking the imposition of some fresh tyranny will fail. They may pull off an operation or two, or maybe 10, but they will fail. As President Bush said today, in their malcontent and in their malicious view of the world no one is innocent." 4. JOURNALISTS AT NEWSCONFERENCE 5. ARMED GUARD INSIDE NEWSCONFERENCE 6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREMER SAYING: "We have an ongoing problem with attacks by former regime officials, by people from the intelligence services on these economic infrastructure targets. That's been a constant and we will surmount that in time. Although one should not underestimate the difficulty of doing that. We have 19,000 km of powerlines in this country and 7,000 kms of pipelines" 7. JOURNALIST 8. BREMER AT NEWS CONFERENCE 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOURNALISTS AND PAN TO BREMER SAYING: "Everytime you have the kind of tragedy we had on Tuesday there is obviously a problem, that is to say you would like to have intelligence that is so good you would never have this kind of thing happening. The problem is that this kind of intelligence is hard to get. In fact, I think , having worked in foreign affairs for almost 40 years now there is no field in foreign affairs where intelligence is more difficult to get and more important to get than in the field of counter terrorism." 10. JOURNALISTS 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BREMER SAYING ANSWERING A QUESTION ABOUT THE ROLE OF OTHER NATIONS IN JOINING COALITION FORCES IN IRAQ: "It is essentially a political message that other countries are joining in the coalition, in joining in the international effort that the coalition is undertaking to stabilise and reconstruct Iraq. It is more or less a political message. It will of course, depending on which countries come in and what size they come in. It may allow the rotation of American forces or other coalition forces, in other words, a reconfiguration of the overall force posture." 12. JOURNALISTS AND BREMER AT NEWS CONFERENCE Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 7th September 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
- Country: Iraq
- Reuters ID: LVAC6DKI6HM17TYAI4WZU8VW35FR
- Story Text: Bremer news conference in Baghdad
U.S. administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, began his
news conference in Baghdad on Saturday (August 23) by
paying another tribute to U.N. chief for Iraq Sergio de
Mello, killed along with 23 others in the devastating truck
bomb attack on the UN headquarters on Tuesday (August 19).
But he said the U.S. stood firm and would not give up
on the fight against those trying to derail the rebuilding
process initiated by the United States.
"This week I mourn all those deaths of those murdered
in the effort to prevent recovery and progress in Iraq. But
let me say this: those yearning for the return of Baathism
will be disappointed and those seeking the imposition of
some fresh tyranny will fail. They may pull off an
operation or two, or maybe 10 but they will fail. As
President Bush said today, in their malcontent and in their
malicious view of the world no one is innocent," Bremer
said.
On Friday, President George W. Bush told reporters in
Seattle, Washington, the occupation was becoming a battle
against "al Qaeda-type fighters."
However he admitted that the U.S. administration is
finding it hard to restore the country's basic
infrastructure because of repetitive attacks carried out by
Iraqi groups opposed to U.S. occupation. Bremer said the
plan was for power to be returned to pre-war levels by the
end of September. However that would essentially depend on
U.S. soldiers catching saboteurs before they attack.
Iraq has been struggling to revive exports since the
war that toppled Saddam Hussein ended. Saboteurs have blown
up parts of the country's northern export pipeline to
Turkey and looting has hampered operations in the south.
"We have an ongoing problem with attacks by former
regime officials, by people from the intelligence services
on these economic infrastructure targets. That's been a
constant and we will surmount that in time, although one
should not underestimate the difficulty of doing that. We
have 19,000 km of powerlines in this country and 7,000 kms
of pipelines," he said.
The U.S. administrator was also forced to admit that it
was hard to get intelligence ahead of planned attacks such
as the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.
Some analysts argue that unlike Britain, which has
provided most of the coalition's non-american troops, the
United States does not have much experience of terrorism.
But like other countries, the United States does
maintain elite units for hostage rescues, counter-terrorism
operations and missions requiring few troops using stealth
and speed.
A shadowy unit of elite troops has been set up to
hunt down Saddam Hussein, still at large since he fell from
power.
The U.S. military is tight-lipped about the activities
of Task Force 20, whose commandos were involved in the July
22 raid in Mosul in which Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were
killed and now are stalking the missing former president.
But a senior defense official, speaking on condition
of anonymity, described Task Force 20 as "a multi-service
special forces unit."
The official said it tracks "high-value targets,"
meaning Saddam and his inner circle, and during the war was
responsible for securing Iraq's expansive western desert
and also involved in the fruitless search for weapons of
mass destruction.
Analysts said Task Force 20 comprises perhaps 750-1,500
troops, drawn from several established units under the U.S.
Special Operations Command.
Its commandos have taken part in raids in and around
Saddam's hometown Tikrit, the capital Baghdad and
elsewhere, but so far have failed to locate him.
"Everytime you have the kind of tragedy we had on
Tuesday there is obviously a problem that is to say you
would like to have intelligence that is so good you would
never have this kind of thing happenings. The problem is
that this kind of intelligence is hard to get in fact, I
think, having worked in foreign affairs for almost 40 years
now there is no field in foreign affairs where intelligence
is more difficult to get and more important to get than in
the field of counter terrorism," Bremer said.
The U.N. has held talks with Britain on ways of getting
more international involvement in Iraq but many nations,
like France and India, are reluctant to commit forces
unless the U.S. cedes control of the international force.
Asked how an international force could do a better job
without a substantial increase in the number of troops
Bremer said the important thing was to show Iraqis that the
world was behind the United States project in Iraq.
"It is essentially a political message that other
countries are joining in the coalition, in joining in the
international effort that the coalition is undertaking to
stabilise and reconstruct Iraq. It is more or less a
political message. It will of course, depending on which
countries come in and what size they come in it may allow
the rotation of American forces or other coalition forces,
in other words a reconfiguration of the overall force
posture," he said.
General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint
Chiefs of Staff, has said that Iraqi resistance to the
United States was fragmented and restricted to a Sunni
Muslim triangle from Baghdad to the north and west.
He identified five groups behind assaults that have
killed 29 U.S. soldiers since President George W. Bush
de
clared major combat over on May 1, three weeks after
Saddam Hussein's fall.
These were Saddam loyalists, foreign fighters from
Syria and Iran, the Ansar al-Islam group said to be linked
to al Qaeda, criminals freed by Saddam before the war, and
Sunni extremists.
Analysts agreed the resistance was fractured, but said
U.S. officials, at least in public, were understating the
growing resentment of many Iraqis at the unsubtle tactics
of American troops grappling to impose control in a postwar
power vacuum.
Bremer, 61, arrived in Baghdad on May 12 to head a
Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) seen as floundering
and politically inept under its first leader, retired
general Jay Garner.
He immediately raised the tempo, driving his staff
hard, travelling outside Baghdad, meeting journalists and
taking key decisions in what he sees as a three-pronged
struggle to impose security, revive the economy and nurture
a political transition.
yb/cr
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