Paul Bremer at the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq - Essay Example

? Case Analysis: Paul Bremer at the Coalition Provisional ity in Iraq Table of Contents Introduction 3 Overall Performance of Ambassador Bremer4 Bremer’s Leadership Style in Iraq 5 Main Options for Transferring Sovereignty 6 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction The engagement of the Americans in Iraq is viewed from different perspective, which comprises of flawed intelligence that formed the foundations of the war, the unsuccessful attempt to protect the international authorization, the quick triumph of the invasion, and the extensive counterinsurgency operation. This study discusses the behavior of Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and L. Paul Bremer, the administrator, who was responsible for the governance of Iraq from May 12, 2003, to June 28. The case study includes a comprehensive analysis of Bremer’s strategies for Iraq, the problems that he faced while conducting his duties as a CPA head in Iraq, his style of leadership, the validity and reliability of his decisions for Iraq, and the three options that he suggested to transfer sovereignty to the Iraqis (Dobbins, Jones, Runkle, & Mohandas, 2009, p. 5). Paul Bremer was sent to Iraq with full judicial, executive and legislative power and authority to govern Iraq and also promote the development of democracy in the country, so that it serve as a role model for the whole middle eastern countries. Practically, the powers of Bremer were limited than they actually appeared. 98 percent of the American military personnel were under the command of the army and in Iraq most of the government officials had left their jobs. The cities had been looted and except some limited Iraqi funds nothing was left. Though Bremer and CPA tried to restructure the country and it’s bring back its democracy, but even the neighboring countries like Iran and Syria were hostile towards such an effort of US and they were suspicious too. Overall Performance of Ambassador Bremer Bremer made many decision during his stay in Iraq; among them few were extremely significant. The span of time Bremer spent in Iraq, he tried to firstly build the CPA, so that he has a team to assist him in his work, establish a governing council by developing a governance team, forming an interim authority of Iraqis, establishing security by disbanding and rebuilding a new Iraqi army, and reforming the Iraq police force, De-Baathification, and focusing on social issues like education, health care, and electricity. The decisions of Bremer which is still remembered are De-Baathification, establishment of the governing council in Iraq, and not summoning up the army. The term De-Baathification was derived from the Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. Saddam Hussein followed Hitler’s ideologies and also formed his party on such rules as that of the Nazis. Under the rule of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi’s could not be promoted or even in school if that person is not a party member. Party membership was also a criterion for taking admission in universities. Bremer made his first move by waving off the decree. The De-Baathification order was issued by Bremer as his first order and about 95 percent of the Iraqis supported his decision (Allawi, 2007, p. 107-110). The second order which Bremer signed was called the dissolution of the entities. According to this law, the services of the entire individual’s in Iraq’s army were cancelled with the intention of recruiting freshly and creating a self-defense army for the new democratic Iraq. This was done because among the 750,000 soldiers, about 300,000 shia’a soldiers were brutally exploited by the Sunni soldiers. So the total army was divided into two parts. The third order was to establish a governing council. Bremer among the other issues was also concerned about Iraqi sovereignty. This is the reason why he established a governing body of the Iraqis for making the people of Iraq returns to sovereignty (Bremer, & McConnell, 2006, p. 24-25). Bremer however faced criticism for his move to dissolve the entire army. 400,000 soldiers of Iraq lost their jobs with this decision. The soldiers protested for this decision and demanded pay backs. Bremer was also highly criticized for his decision to remove the members of the Baath party from top government positions, which added to the confusion in Iraq (McElroy, 2008). Also the case of firing around thousand of teaches were badly criticized. Iraq was passing through very sensitive phase, in such situation such drastic decisions of Bremer was bound to be criticized. The intentions were not wrong, but the way of establishing those intentions were absolutely wrong (CNN, 2005). Bremer’s Leadership Style in Iraq Based on the daily routine and tasks which Bremer performed it can be said that Bremer had the qualities of a transformational leader. He worked almost 18 hours in a day in which he communicated with the Iraqi leaders on daily basis, has discussions with his advisors and allowed everyone to put forward their opinions quickly without wasting any time. Apart from this he regularly visited the schools, hospitals and the electricity providing power plants to ensure the progress of the work done (Bass, & Riggio, 2006, p. 19-20). Further all the meetings, memos and paper works were personally handled by him. He ensured to have working lunch and dinner with an Iraqi who held prominent position in the country. This was just done to show that they were on their side helping them out to rebuild their country. Though the drastic decisions taken by Bremer were high criticized and showed qualities of an autocratic leader in Bremer. The disastrous decision of dismantling the army with the intention of rebuilding a new army proved to be his greatest mistake. The removal of all Baath members from government position added to the unemployment burden. Though he had a flexible approach in treating the CPA staffs and handling his duties, but he showed an inflexible approach towards making decisions for improvements in Iraq. Main Options for Transferring Sovereignty Bremer and his CPA advisors had come up with a way to form a Iraqis governing council who would create a new constitution for Iraq and the elections would be held based on the new constitution. However, the question was that, the approach would be approved by Washington or not? To handle this risk, three options were suggested by Bremer, they are: 1. The handover would be taking place in spring 2004 and this would be advocated by the top defense and military officials. This plan would allow the Americans to stay away from the damages of troop rotation due to the start of war. This was Bremer’s least favored plan but it would be supported by few in Washington who were planning presidential elections. 2. The second option was that the handover would take place in spring 2004. However, Bremer suggested proper elections in Iraq, but experts were of the view that conducting elections in such a short span of time was not possible and Americans were of the view that if the elections in Iraq in summer did not go well then it would impact the elections in America in November. 3. The third option was to first adjust every planned task and then transfer the sovereignty with a new constitution, fresh election and new memorandum. This required another 15-18 months. However, the pressure on both America and Iraq were increasing so Bremer understood that option three though being the best was not possible. Conclusion The case study focused on Bremer’s attitude, decisions, and strategic plans which he took when he was sent to Iraq as a governing head. It revealed the attempts Bremer made to revive the political and social environment of Iraq by working rigorously with his CPA team members. The attempt to establish sovereignty, develops a new Iraqi constitution, held free elections, establish a new unbiased army and bring back social and political sustainability was the motto with which Bremer stated working in Iraq. He took certain drastic steps which were indeed wrong and added to the confusion rather than reducing them, but external political pressure from America, and hostile behavior of the neighboring countries too demotivated the initiatives taken by Bremer for Iraq. References Allawi, A. A. (2007). The occupation of Iraq: Winning the war, losing the peace. Yorkshire: Yale University Press. Bass, B. M., & Riggio, R. E. (2006). Transformation leadership. (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Routledge. Bremer, P., & McConnell, M. (2006). My year in Iraq: The struggle to build a future of hope. New York: Simon and Schuster. CNN. (2005). Audit: U.S. lost track of $9 billion in Iraq funds. Retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/01/30/iraq.audit/. Dobbins, J., Jones, S. G., Runkle, B., & Mohandas, S. (2009). Occupying Iraq: A history of the coalition provisional authority. Pittsburg :RAND Corporation. McElroy, D. (2008). Paul Bremer blamed for Iraq mistakes. Retrieved from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1582100/Paul-Bremer-blamed-for-Iraq-mistakes.html. Read More