Ambassador Bremer Interview with the CBS Early Show [a clueless Harry Smith Freep opportunity]

DoD ^ | August 20, 2003 | Amb. Bremer & Harry (ungrateful) Smith

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

United States Department of Defense News Transcript On the web: http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030820-0223.html Media contact: media@defenselink.mil or +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711

Presenter: Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

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Ambassador Bremer Interview with the CBS Early Show

(Interview with Harry Smith, CBS Early Show.)

     Q:  Paul Bremer is the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq.  Ambassador Bremer joins us this morning.

     Thanks for joining us, sir.

     Bremer:  Good morning.

     Q:  Do you know who did this?

     Bremer:  No, we don't.  Whoever did it was a terrible criminal, taking innocent life, as terrorists always seem to do; in this case, people who came here with no political motive, who were simply here trying to rebuild Iraq and helping the Iraqi people reclaim their country.

     Q:  Pipeline and water supplies have been sabotaged in the last week.  The Jordanian embassy was attacked about two weeks ago; now the United Nations.  You had 150,000 American soldiers over there who are targets every day.  When will the United States get control of this country? 

     Bremer:  I don't accept the proposition that we're not in control.  We certainly have a threat of terrorism.  That does not mean chaos.  It doesn't mean that we've lost control.  It does mean that we have an element of terrorism here, the kind of terrorism we've seen in New York and Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam and Beirut over the years.

     It is a terrible war.  It's one which was declared on the American people very dramatically on September 11th, and it's a war that we will win.  It's not something that we're going to get deterred from by an attack here, bad as it was.

     Q:  How is it you don't agree with the assessment that things are not in control there?

     Bremer:  I don't know who makes the assessment that things aren't in control.  It's clearly not the view of the coalition here. We have a security problem here.  The security problem now has got a terrorist dimension, which is new, but the rest of the security is basically in better shape than it was three months ago when I arrived here.

     It is true that we're taking some casualties among the coalition forces, but that's largely coming from a small group of bitter-enders from the former regime, and almost all of it in a very small geographic area.  The attacks on the pipelines that you mentioned and on the electricity are basically a different problem.  Those are attacks on the Iraqi people, as the acting minister of oil made clear in his press conference on Saturday.

     Q:  Do you have an anticipation of when you think the streets of Baghdad and the streets of the other major cities in Iraq will be safe, when the power will be on, when day-to-day clean water will be available?

     Bremer:  Well, the streets of the main cities, including Baghdad, are safe.  They're safe today.  You can go around them.  You find thousands of Iraqis on the streets every day.  Right now, if you went downtown, you'd find them walking around.  The shops are open. Men and women and their children are there.

     It is dangerous after the curfew, obviously, in the late evening. But the country is not a country in chaos.  And terrorism doesn't mean chaos.  It does mean an outrage against humanity.  And it is something we have to deal with, and we will deal with it.  But it is simply wrong to extrapolate from these terrorist acts to a conclusion that this country is in chaos.  It's simply not true.

     Q:  Ambassador Bremer, we thank you for your time today. We do appreciate it.

     Bremer:  Thank you.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Email: EarlyShow@CBS.com

Ammo: 8 Unapologetically Pro-Coalition News Links and Articles

[Semper Paratus]

Contrast that with the iumulated sex Matt Lauer had this mouning with Maddy Albright.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Harry Smith: Q: How is it you don't agree with the assessment that things are not in control there?

Because I'm there and you're not, you wanker. (The honorable Amb. Bremer would never say such a thing, of course).

If you want on or off my pro-Coalition/anti-wanker ping list, just ping.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

What a pompous jerk...

[goldstategop]

Harry Smith couldn't get anything out of Ambassador Bremer to confirm the media hypothesis the U.S is on the run in Iraq. Quite the opposite. But then again liberals hate good news the way most of us shun SARS.

[MEG33]

Mad Maddie was reporting gloom, doom and failure.Bremer is a good man doing a difficult job.Thank heavens the adults are in charge!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Wankers. I usually ignore 'em anymore and e-mail news from the front to others myself, but there are times - post-bombing of the UN building, with Kofi and the press DARING to criticize the US military is ONE!

Kofi put OUR troops in danger by not protecting his own people. He has yet to even say THANK YOU for the price our troops and nation is paying in blood and $$$ for ridding this nation of a monster.

The small-minded, blind and bitter partisan presstitutes dare get angry at OUR hard-working men and women who are doing great work while under fire with NO credit from this press - for a hit on their preferable world leader - the UN?

Enough!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank heavens the adults are in charge!

Amen. Talk about a disconnect from reality with AMERICA'S mainstream press yesterday.

Every one of the military leaders - and the troops - were resolved, self-confident and very determined to defend their work on the ground and to complete the mission. Every one of our mainstream "news" outlets cried quagmire and brought partisan pols on to lie.

What a sorry lot of little men and women they are.

[Soaring Feather]

Great post Rags. I tell you I can't stand to watch the liberal press, my blood pressure just zooms.

[Valin]

Q: Paul Bremer is the chief U.S. administrator in Iraq. Ambassador Bremer joins us this morning.

Thanks for joining us, sir.

Bremer: Good morning.


Q: Do you know who did this?

A: Well the the Vice President called me and said that there is this moron who wants to show to the world just what an idiot he is. So I was asked if I could afford him the oportunity..so here I am.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Same here, bentfeather. Thank goodness for DoD briefings and Freepers. Too much 'press' is bad for your health.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

ROTFL!

What Amb. Bremer and the troops were also doing while Harry was thinkin' up those probing questions:

8 WEAPONS, IED CONFISCATED, DESTROYED 

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Just a little side issue, because sometimes they need addressing. (^:

[Arrowhead1952]

After reading this post, I had a terrible thought. Can anyone imange what would be going on over there if we had DumbocRATs in charge of running this war? Makes me sick. What if algore was in c........ Forget it. Just a BAD thought

[blackie]

Bremer ... Bump!

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[CyberAnt]

Rush was nuking her - Ouch! .. it was merciless!!

[MEG33]

OH goody! I love it when that happens!

[PhilDragoo]

CBS, Democrats, Scumbags: An Alliance Made in Hell

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Those pictures are worth a thousand Dem lies.