Bremer rules in Iraq: the same Insider network that first built up Saddam Hussein, and then used U.S. military power to topple his regime, has put one of its own in charge of rebuilding Iraq.

On June 29th, the guest on the BBC Sunday morning news program Breakfast With Frost could not have been more blunt:

   We are going to fight them and impose
   our will on them and we will
   capture or, if necessary, kill them until
   we have imposed law and order on
   this country.

The speaker was L. Paul Bremer III, the American civilian administrator of Iraq. Former Ambassador Bremer received his assignment on May 6th, when President Bush announced his appointment as "Presidential Envoy to Iraq" to serve as the senior coalition official in that sad and beleaguered nation. In that capacity, Bremer "will oversee Coalition reconstruction efforts and the process by which the Iraqi people build the institutions and governing structures that will guide their future," explained a White House press release. "Ambassador Bremer will report to Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and will advise the President, through the Secretary, on policies designed to achieve American and Coalition goals for Iraq."

"American and Coalition goals for Iraq"? As decided by whom? The answer to that question lies in the usual Insider institutions with which the new overseer of Iraq is affiliated.

From 1989 through 2000, Bremer was the chief operating officer of Kissinger Associates (KA). A member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), Bremer joined the Kissinger group after 23 years of service in the U.S. Diplomatic Corps under six secretaries of state. In 1983, Bremer was named U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands, and, in 1986, President Reagan appointed him ambassador-at-large for counter-terrorism. In 1999, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert appointed Bremer as chairman of the National Commission on Terrorism.

THE NEW AMERICAN for July 17, 2000 noted: "The June 5th report of the National Commission on Terrorism 'raises questions about how long Americans can remain free of a ghastly police state,' opined left-wing commentator Carl Rowan in his June 7th syndicated column. To deal with the threat of terrorism, the report demands 'a substantial surrender of [individual] freedoms and ... protections against the state,' Rowan summarizes."

One would think that, considering the urgency with which the Bush administration dismantled Saddam Hussein's regime, some mention of Iraq as a potential "terrorist state" would have been made in the National Commission on Terrorism report published only three years ago. Do "rogue regimes" spring up overnight? We might also presume that Mr. Bremer's present position within Iraq implies some extraordinary knowledge concerning the nation. Oddly, Iraq under Saddam Hussein is conspicuous by its absence from the report.

It is curious that the man who bears the single greatest responsibility for the report has been chosen to administer a vanquished "foe" not even identified as a threat three years ago. That does not mean, however, that Ambassador Bremer has not crossed paths with other Insiders who have had more than passing interest in Iraq. He has--the most notable example being his association with Kissinger Associates.

Kissinger Associates

As THE NEW AMERICAN reported last January 13th: "[Dr. Henry] Kissinger created his consulting firm during the mid-1980s in collaboration with Brent Scowcroft and Lawrence Eagleburger. The firm gives secret high-level briefings to an equally secretive list of clients. Essentially a form of matchmaking between foreign rulers and private corporate and banking interests, KA briefing sessions are conducted orally, with nothing committed to paper."

When Kissinger stepped down from his short-lived position as head of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks, he wrote a letter, dated December 13, 2002, to President Bush explaining his resignation. Therein, Dr. Kissinger demonstrated a reluctance to have Kissinger Associates involved in controversy: "It is clear that, although specific potential conflicts can be resolved ... the controversy would quickly move to the consulting firm I built and own," he wrote to the president. "I have, therefore, concluded that I cannot accept the responsibility you proposed."

Kissinger had good reason to be concerned about his consulting firm becoming mired in controversy. As our December 30, 2002 cover story, "Cover-up King," pointed out, Kissinger played a key role in financing Saddam's war machine--the same machine Americans shed their blood to dismantle: "Kissinger has been deeply involved in creating other 'threats' used to justify empowering the UN--particularly Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime. During the late 1980s, Saddam's regime funded its arms build-up by skimming money from U.S. taxpayer-subsidized agricultural loans. More than $5 billion was funneled into Saddam's weapons program this way, much of it passing through Italy's BNL bank--one of Kissinger Associates' most lucrative clients."

Now that the fighting in Iraq is officially over, the former chief operating officer of Kissinger Associates is the de facto ruler of Iraq. How could the CFR-connected occupiers have been more blatant about their determination to keep Iraq under the thumb of their internationalist cronies?

Life Under Bremer

An educated Iraqi familiar with U.S. history might get nervous about the phrase in the White House press statement: "Bremer will oversee Coalition reconstruction efforts...." One of the most notable examples of so-called reconstruction occurred at the end of the American Civil War. Recall that Union forces occupied the former Confederate states for 12 years. How could anybody be enthusiastic about being "overseen" by a foreigner who does not share the same nationality, culture, religious tradition, or economic interests? And even if an Iraqi citizen approved of the initial U.S. occupation, those feelings may change according to continuing developments, such as whether the form and duration of the occupation fulfills our government's announced intentions. A steady stream of stories in the major media indicate that Iraqis may be becoming disenchanted with U.S. oversight.

For example, a July 11th report from Reuters news service quoted several Iraqi Muslim leaders who warned that anger was mounting over the U.S. occupation of their country. One such leader, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer, a Shi'ite from the holy city of Najaf, told Reuters: "They [the Americans] gave the justification that they came in the name of liberation but now they are an occupying force. That is what is making people angry. If the people lose their patience, there will be a social uproar."

A Reuters report for June 2nd noted another example of Iraqi disenchantment: "Thousands of sacked Iraqi soldiers threatened Monday to launch suicide attacks against U.S. troops as leaders of the country's squabbling tribes told the Americans they could face war if they did not leave soon. The entire Iraqi people is a time bomb that will blow up in the Americans' face if they don't end their occupation. We refuse to deal with the occupation...."

Despite the unrest, however, the Bush administration seems eager to entrench itself ever deeper into the Iraqi quagmire. A new provisional governing council authored by Bremer started functioning on July 13th. Singapore newspaper The Straits Times reported on that same day: "National elections to select a fully sovereign Iraqi government are expected to follow sometime in late 2004 or early 2005." (Emphasis added.) The newspaper continued: "Responsibility for security will stay in the coalition's [Bremer's] hands and Mr. Bremer will wield a final veto over all decisions, according to a UN source."

The French press agency AFP ran a startling story on July 16th in which the news service reported: "US administration reaches out to communists, low-paid Iraqis." The report continued: "Among the more surprising choices made by the top US overseer in Iraq, Paul Bremer, known for his neo-conservative leanings, was to allow communist Hamid Majid Mussa to sit on Iraq's new Governing Council." An unnamed source quoted in the report explained: "He [Bremer] hesitated at first but became convinced that the communist could prove a counterweight to the imams."

Readers of THE NEW AMERICAN may not be as surprised by CFR member Bremer's decision to include a communist in his council as was the reporter for AFP. The only surprise is the level of audaciousness exhibited by this decision.

And, as we have seen, L. Paul Bremer III, the Kissinger Associates alumnus with sterling Insider credentials, will be running Iraq indefinitely. It should be the fodder of a major scandal that members of the same interconnected Insider network that first built up Saddam Hussein, and then used U.S. military power to dismantle him, should now be in charge of rebuilding what they have destroyed. And to think Michael Milken went to federal prison for mere "insider trading." What would be the appropriate penalty for Insider treason--aiding and supporting a foreign enemy such as Saddam?