Bremer Says Sabotage Caused Much Damage in Iraq

Reuters ^ | 6/12/03

[areafiftyone]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq told lawmakers on Thursday the situation there has improved "dramatically" in recent weeks, and blamed much of the reported looting and lawlessness on political sabotage.

Paul Bremer, briefing the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee through a teleconference from Baghdad, also said he felt there were enough troops in Iraq.

While he said there was an increasing number of organized attacks on U.S. troops in regions north of Baghdad, they were on a small scale of five to 10 people, without an apparent central command and control.

Bremer was speaking after an AH-64 Apache helicopter was apparently shot down by hostile fire in western Iraq, according to the U.S. Central Command. The two-member crew was not injured and was recovered, it said.

In a hookup that was often faint and cut out for substantial periods, Bremer deflected repeated questions from lawmakers on how long U.S. troops would remain in Iraq and how large a force would be needed over the longer term, saying that was up to the Pentagon.

He said much of the looting and burning of buildings after the war that had been attributed to random lawlessness were instead acts of political sabotage by followers of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

For instance, he said he visited a liquefied petroleum gas plant in Basra on Wednesday reported to have been looted. But he found the work of "professional saboteurs" who had gone into the control room, disabling computers and cutting cables.

"There was no looting. It was an act of pure political sabotage, almost certainly by elements of Ba'athists who want to show that coalition is unable to run this country," Bremer said, referring to Saddam's political party. "We still face this kind of activity and we need to defeat it."

He said in the last week there also had been "more serious Ba'athist and Fedayeen Saddam attacks on our soldiers. That too we must defeat."

Lawmakers stressed their concerns over the mounting toll on U.S. forces, weeks after the end of the war's major combat.

"I'm deeply troubled by the security situation. Not a day goes by when one of our soldiers isn't killed," said Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the committee's top Democrat.

Bremer said despite these threats, overall law and order had improved in many cities. "I think as a general rule, the situation particularly here in Baghdad ... has improved dramatically in the last three weeks," he said.

He said a primary goal was to get Iraq's economy moving, and estimated that unemployment was well above 50 percent.

"We are seeing the Ba'athists preying on a lot of these unemployed people," he said, spurring anti-American sentiment.

[caisson71]

Democrats continue to be "concerned". Did they expect the rebuilding of Iraq to be a cakewalk? Their "concern" is for the 2004 elections and nothing else.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Democrats continue to be "concerned". Did they expect the rebuilding of Iraq to be a cakewalk? Their "concern" is for the 2004 elections and nothing else.

Absolutely right!

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