L. Paul Bremer

Easton Press L. Paul Bremer books

My Year in Iraq - signed first edition - 2006

 

L. Paul Bremer biography

L. Paul Bremer, full name Lewis Paul Bremer III, is an American diplomat and political figure best known for his role as the Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq from 2003 to 2004. Born on September 30, 1941, in Hartford, Connecticut, Bremer has had a distinguished career in both government service and private sector leadership. Bremer earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1963 and later received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1966. His early career included stints in the U.S. State Department and the Foreign Service, where he focused on counterterrorism and served in various capacities, including Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Norway.

One of the defining chapters of Bremer's career came in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. In May 2003, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to head the Coalition Provisional Authority, the interim government charged with overseeing the reconstruction of Iraq and the transition to Iraqi sovereignty. During his tenure, Bremer faced numerous challenges, including the postwar insurgency and the complex task of rebuilding the Iraqi political and economic infrastructure. Bremer's controversial decision to disband the Iraqi army and remove members of the Ba'ath Party from key positions has been widely debated. Critics argue that these actions contributed to the subsequent instability in Iraq, while others contend that they were necessary steps to break with the country's past and build a more inclusive government.

After leaving Iraq in June 2004, Bremer returned to private life but remained involved in public discourse on foreign policy and national security. He authored a memoir titled My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope, in which he provides his perspective on the challenges and decisions made during his tenure in Iraq. L. Paul Bremer's career reflects a mix of diplomatic service, private sector experience, and a pivotal role in a critical period of U.S. foreign policy. His time in Iraq remains a subject of analysis and debate in discussions about the Iraq War and its aftermath.

 

My Year in Iraq

"Baghdad was burning." With these words, Ambassador L. Paul "Jerry" Bremer begins his memoir of fourteen danger-filled months as America's proconsul in Iraq. My Year in Iraq is the only senior insider's perspective on the crucial period following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. In dramatic detail, Bremer reveals the previously hidden struggles among Iraqi politicians and America's leaders, taking us from the ancient lanes in the holy city of Najaf to the White House Situation Room and the Pentagon E-Ring." "His memoir carries the reader behind closed doors in Baghdad during hammer-and-tongs negotiations with emerging Iraqi leaders as they struggle to forge the democratic institutions vital to Iraq's future of hope. He describes his private meetings with President Bush and his admiration for the president's firm wartime leadership. And we witness heated sessions among members of America's National Security Council - George Bush, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice as Bremer labors to realize the vision he and President Bush share of a free and democratic New Iraq." Bremer faced daunting problems working with Iraq's traumatized and divided population to find a path to a responsible and representative government. The Shia Arabs, the country's long-repressed majority, deeply distrusted the Sunni Arab minority who had held power for centuries and had controlled the detested Baath Party. Iraq's non-Arab Kurds teetered on the brink of secession when Bremer arrived. He had to find Sunnis willing to participate in the new political order. He takes the reader inside marathon negotiations as he and his team shepherded Iraq's new leaders to write an interim constitution with guarantees for individual and minority rights unprecedented in the region.