Is Bremer out? Is he being promoted? Suspended? Two weeks ago the rumor was that he was trying to resign.
I’ve heard every rumor under the sun today. And all that seems really clear is that something major is about to happen on the ground in the US occupation.
Of the pieces I’ve read this afternoon the ones which seem to have the best handle on it are Fred Kaplan’s in Slate and John Burns’ in the Times. The best, that is, in as much as they jibe with what my sources are telling me and my general sense of the situation.
Almost two weeks ago now, Bremer had consultations with senior Pentagon officials. And the chatter out of those meetings said that Bremer had grown deeply pessimistic about his job in Iraq and that John Abizaid, chief of the US Central Command, was advocating some sort of decisive move back toward actual war-fighting to arrest the rapidly deteriorating security situation.
Here’s what Kaplan says this afternoon in Slate …
The guess around the Pentagon is that Bremer’s role in postwar reconstruction will probably be scaled back, if not suspended, at least until the war is really over. Whatever the U.S. armed forces do nextâand it’s a safe bet the change in policy will go well beyond semanticsâshould not come as much of a surprise. The muddling-through of the past couple of months could not have been sustained much longer, on any grounds.
Meanwhile, here’s an article in the Financial Times about how the Iraqi Foreign Minister we appointed is saying the IGC is getting a bum rap and that the problem is infighting among the Americans.
What strikes me as most revealing here is that Bremer is the one getting yanked out of the country on short notice to talk with his superiors and the generals running the show on the ground — namely, Sanchez and Abizaid — suddenly seem to have their voice and are volubly taking the initiative.
This line out of an article from an article out of tomorrow’s Times has the ring of truth to me …
One Defense Department official said Mr. Bremer had returned to defend his approach as the White House re-examined some of his biggest decisions, including disbanding the Iraqi Army.
But the truth is I don’t know.
What’s clear is that something is coming to a head over there and we look set to get a big dose of reality out of Iraq.
