Bremer: Iraqi Democracy will be Sloppy and Messy

"We shouldn’t kid ourselves," Bremer said. "It will be sloppy and messy at the beginning. People forget it took us 12 years to write our own Constitution. It wasn’t very pretty around here either between 1776 and 1787."

Bremer disclosed that it would take time for democracy to settle in Iraq and underlined that the US expenditures on Iraq’s reconstruction have slowed down.

Bremer also evaluated the trial of overthrown Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. When he was asked if the trial might lead to the escalation of violence in the country, Bremer replied, "Zarqawi’s group members are terrorists just like Al-Qaeda members. They do not need any stimulation."

In answer to criticisms that the dissolution of the Iraqi Army was a mistake, Bremer defended, "I did not dissolve the Iraqi Army. To call the Iraq Army, which oppressed Shiites and Kurds for 35 years, back to duty could pave the way for a civil war."

Meanwhile, a claim emerged that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) did not pass along to US President George W. Bush prior to the invasion of Iraq information that Iraq had halted its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program. The CIA had been informed by relatives of Iraqi scientists that Saddam had ceased his WMD development programs some years ago.

Yesterday’s edition of the New York Times says that this claim is part of a US Congressional commission report that will be released later this week.