Bremer to bring new strategies to Iraqi Governing Council
By Wolf Blitzer
CNN
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L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, leaves the White House after a meeting Wednesday.
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, emerged from high-level talks at the White House with a firm but gloomy assessment:
"We're going to have difficult days ahead because the terrorists are determined to deny the Iraqis the right to run their own country. We're not going to let them get away with that," Bremer told reporters Wednesday.
Until now, President Bush had insisted the U.S.-led coalition would not yield control to a new Iraqi government until a new constitution was in place and democratic elections had occurred.
But amid seemingly more organized and more deadly attacks, that stance now appears to be changing.
"We are looking at all sorts of ideas and we do want to accelerate the pace of reform. We want to accelerate our work with respect to putting a legal basis under the new Iraqi government," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell Wednesday.
Among the options Bremer is taking back to Baghdad for consideration by the Iraqi Governing Council -- the creation of an interim constitution and an interim leadership -- along the lines of what the United States did in Afghanistan.
Bremer's talks at the White House with the president and his top national security advisers had an urgency which was underscored by the latest attack against Italian troops.
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"The United States sends our deepest condolences to the families of the soldiers and policemen who died. We appreciate their sacrifices," President Bush said Wednesday.
The CIA's latest assessment points to an increasingly sophisticated insurgency, not only inside the so-called Sunni Triangle, but beyond.
The Italians were killed in the southern city of Nasiriya, which had generally been considered safe.
U.S. analysts say that in recent weeks, the insurgents have selected high-value targets designed to undermine support for the U.S.-led coalition, such as friendly international forces, the United Nations, the Red Cross and, perhaps most important, the Iraqi police.
"Obviously, the terrorists are trying to encourage the Iraqi people to believe that the United States is not going to stay the course," Bremer said.
