Paul Bremer releases Republican playbook

Paul Bremer  III was interviewed on Meet The Press today about his new book titled "My Year in Iraq: The Struggle to Build a Future of Hope."  Tim Russert questioned him about several discrepancies between behind-the-scene concerns and Bremer's public statements.  One was Bremer's private request to Rumsfeld for additional troops and Bremer's op-ed piece in the NY Times where he stated that troop levels were sufficient.  This op-ed piece refuted presidential candidate Kerry's position, based on quotes  from an earlier speech by Bremer, that more troops were necessary. 

The big surprise and most shocking statement of the interview was in response to a question about the Iraqi insurgency.  Privately, Bremer was concerned that the insurgency posed a dangerous challenge for the US.  His public statements at the same time on this matter, though, described the insurgency as a small group of "dead enders."  When asked about this by Russert, Bremer said that government officials need to be honest when dealing with the president.  He implied that officials need to resign before they can be honest with the public.

We have assumed for years that this represents the Republican playbook - never admit a problem and present a united public front, one that presents a rosy picture even in the face of bad news. The constitution describes a government for the people - the republicans present us with a government for themselves.   

Don't worry folks, Iraqi troop training is harder than we thought, but it's coming along just fine. 

[Update] I listened to a Podcast of Meet the Press to obtain the relevant quotes from the show to support my diary.

Tim Russert quotes from Bremer’s new book:

I shared (General) John  Abizaid’s frustration. For weeks I had sensed that the Pentagon did not grasp the need to crush a mounting Bathist, Jihadi insurgency and to crush it early on. 

This was followed by Russert’s question:

Russert: Now that is July 14th and again you came back to the United States a week later ---- one week from then, and here  is the exchange you had.  Let me put it up there.

Here is the text that Russert posted and read:

Bremer: We have a limited problem with some bitter enders, some small, remnants of the old regime.
Press: So you don’t think this is a coordinated campaign?
Bremer: No.
Press: You don’t believe  this a guerilla war?
Bremer: No. They present no strategic threat to the coalition.

Now back to Meet the Press:

Russert: In private you seem to very fearful of the insurgency but you put a public face on that this is no big deal. 

Bremer: Well, Tim, first of all, look, I have been in government for 40 years and my approach to government is that you owe it to the president to be very direct with him in what you recommend and what you say, which I tried to do throughout the time that I was there. You don’t expect a government person to come out and say everything is wrong, unless he’s resigned.  If you have real concerns and you can’t support a presidents policy, at least that has always been my view, then you resign.

In other words, a government servant's responsibility is to be honest to the king but not to the people he or she serves.