Bremer is a "dictator", Brahimi calls it

HA!... Somewhere in the sludge of cable news I heard one of the many many Republicans, reading from the Faxed Republican TPs, say today that Brahimi is 'an Algerian, what does he know of representative democracy".  
The Chalabi and Neocon forces have had fun for weeks saying sometimes amazingly vicious petty and personal things, so reminiscent of the campaigns against Blix.  Who the hell are we.

Really and truly we are about to drown in hubris.

Thanks to ABC (iirc, tho it may have been CBS, I heard both tonight) there was a clip of Brahimi that receives further exposure in this Knight Ridder article.

Continued below...

Brahimi: Bremer the 'dictator of Iraq' in forming government

By TOM LASSETER
Knight Ridder Newspapers

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Lakhdar Brahimi, wrapping up his U.N. mission to bring an interim government to Iraq, looked a little tired and disheartened Wednesday as he said the compromise he negotiated was the best possible under American control.
...
Asked how big a role the American administration had in forming the government and selecting the prime minister and president, Brahimi reminded reporters that American Ambassador L. Paul Bremer runs things in Iraq.

"Bremer is the dictator of Iraq," he said. "He has the money. He has the signature."

He later added: "I will not say who was my first choice, and who was not my first choice ... I will remind you that the Americans are governing this country."

Sadoun al Dulame, the head of a Baghdad research organization and polling center, said he spoke with Brahimi last week and that the diplomat was discouraged.

"He was very disappointed, very frustrated," al Dulame said. "I asked him why he didn't say that publicly (and) he said, `I am the U.N. envoy to Iraq, how can I admit to failure?'"
...
It was a daunting stage for diplomacy, even for Brahimi, a former minister for foreign affairs of Algeria whose diplomatic career stretches back to his days as a National Liberation Front representative in 1956, during Algeria's struggle for independence.

Brahimi spent a lot of his time in Iraq listening to Iraqis from all walks of life and pieced together an expansive, nuanced picture of the nation and its needs. He concluded that immediate elections wouldn't work.

He then went to the table with U.S. administrators and the nation's interim Governing Council for weeks of negotiations that involved sharp dissent, political jockeying and leaks to the press.
...
Reflecting on it all, Brahimi said it was "a sometimes extremely difficult negotiation process" and added, "You in the press had a field day."

After he finished speaking, he walked off from the podium, alone. A U.N. banner was tacked on the wall behind him, waiting to be taken down and replaced by the Americans in time for the next news conference.

•  Yes, I can imagine...

  ...that they'd think having been involved in an anti-colonialist war of independence might disqualify someone from having anything useful to say about Iraq. Priceless.

  by gong on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:27:38 PM PDT

•  This is why I read dailykos

  Bravo!
  I was wondering what Brahimi thought of the US picks.
  Extra points for refrencing Greek Myths. (Hubris is bringing down the Repugnatats).
  Maybe you could leave a tip jar, so we may be obsequious with mojo.

  by TustonDAZ on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:41:24 PM PDT

  •  Well I just heard

    Fareed (what else is new) on Aaron Brown soft pedal all of this.  Saying, on direct question from Brown as to Bremer being at the heart of the game, that "neither Brahimi nor Bremer got what they wanted".  Same old game of obfuscation.  I heard a longer clip of Brahimi also, from the same event, what a humble man.  He has impressd me all along.  

    I have to say, tho they produce smallish amounts, Knight Ridder consistently comes thru.

    by Marisacat on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 07:58:04 PM PDT

  •  "picks"

    "I was wondering what Brahimi thought of the US picks."

    Um, you forgot the "r".

    by elizsan on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:09:53 PM PDT

    •  *laughs until clean up is neccesary"

      your right

      by TustonDAZ on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:16:28 PM PDT

      •  ouch!

        thats gotta be the umpteenth time tonight I've typed "your" instead of "your're"

        by TustonDAZ on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:18:36 PM PDT

•  Where is the quote from Bush saying that

  Brahimi was to pick the new government?

  This is what is pathetic about our press. They cover every event discretely as if events had no context.  This would be the perfect place to quote Bush but ... , otherwise it's a good article.

  by ftm on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:03:21 PM PDT

  •  Great point

    Context would be easy and extraordinarily helpful on this.  

    By the way, I lost a lot of respect for Brahimi when I read that line about how he kept his mouth shut lest he publicly admit failure.  That sounds very Bush-esque, but it's especially troubling because if he spoke out forcefully he could have easily de-legitimized the interim government and forced us to accept a better solution (better for the Iraqis, not for us).
    

    by dcg on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:15:27 PM PDT

    •  maybe,but

      I don't think its "Bushesque." IMnotsoHO I think he doesn't want to admit failure because if the UN says it failed, then katie-bar-the-door, the bloodbath of April O4 is going to look like a kindergarten fight.  I'm not sure there would be any "better solution" before complete chaos erupted.

      by TustonDAZ on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:26:36 PM PDT

      •  Exactly, he urged the Iraqi people to

        look over the people selected and to consider accepting them.  I agree Brahimi knows what a thin sharp wire is ready to garrott the country (and everyone inside it) by the neck.  Sistani accepted the selected 33 as well.

        Brahimi has been very outspoken for a diplomat, from the get go.  He spoke out about Fallujah and about Israel, both, in this mess.  

        by Marisacat on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 08:51:41 PM PDT

        •  Brahimi's BAAAAAAD

          I mean bad as in good.  Remember this? (just cancel the english pack) I remember reading somewhere (Juan Cole maybe?) that he feels so strongly about helping the Iraqis because he's Algerian, and so he is especially sensitive to the Iraqis' situation because of the Algerian's previous "problems" with the French.
          OT Did you ever see "The Very Last RE-Make of BEAU GEST? It had Marty Feldman in it, and maybe Mel Brooks. Very Funny (or was at least when I last saw it at 10 years old)
          I remember there was some rethug sniping at him a while 'cause he's Sunni and there's all those "CRAZY" Shi'ia in Iraq.
          Maybe I'm naive, but I think guys like Brahimi, Annan, and their peers really try to do the most human thing, they just have to work in a world real politique run by psychoticsImean... er... so-called "World Leaders" :-}

          by TustonDAZ on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 09:28:04 PM PDT

          •  Here is the whole of

            the transcript of Brahimi press conf. today...

            I am reading thru it...

            by Marisacat on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 09:55:58 PM PDT

            •  I tried to read some of that but

              I've gotta schlupp(16hrs oneway) my Doodads(tm) to the Peoples Fair so I must sleep.
              I trust you will diary any understanding you unearth.thanx.
              peace and be well

              by TustonDAZ on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 10:37:28 PM PDT

•  The UN should refuse to go along with this sham

  And the Security Council members should tell Colin Powell (or whomever this misadministration trots out yo spout their next round of lies) to forget about it until these crooks are ready to play ball.

  Step 1: No more contracts for Halliburton.

  by Bob Johnson on Wed Jun 02, 2004 at 10:22:03 PM PDT