Shoes Thrown at Former US Diplomat in British Parliament

Former U.S. diplomat Paul Bremer, who was head of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) of Iraq following the 2003 invasion, is the latest victim of a shoe throwing incident, this time in British Parliament, on February 7.

During a meeting organized by a Think Tank, Henry Jackson Society, a man identified as Yasser al-Samarani threw a pair of shoes to Bremer, yelling that the shoes came “from Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi people.”

Bremer might have learned how to deal with flying footwear from his former boss, President George W.; because he was extremely quick to react, first ducking, and then trying to catch the second one in the air.

The attacker was removed while Bremer kept his composure and proudly said “If he had done that while Saddam Hussein was alive, he would be a dead man right now.”

Beremer was heavily criticized for dissolving the entire former Iraqi army and effectively putting 400,000 former Iraqi soldiers out of work, when he first became the head of CPA.

He was also reproached by the International Advisory and Monitoring Board (IAMB) over his role in managing the Iraqi Oil revenue, when he failed to order the required repairs to place meters on the well-heads and pipelines for transporting Iraq’s oil. The repairs were necessary to document the shipment of Iraqi oil, so it could be demonstrated that none of it was being smuggled.

IAMB was appointed to oversee the Coalition Provisional Authority Beremer was administrating at the time. IAMB also found problems with the financial controls of the $12 billion cash that was paid to CPA from the US treasury, under Bremer’s stewardship. The external auditors’ management notes pointed out that the CPA didn’t perform cash reconciliations until April 2004, eleven months into Bremer’s tenure.

Additionally, another $9 billion that was sent to Iraq during Bremer’s term in office, for the reconstruction of Iraq, that have not been accounted for as of yet.

Stuart Bowen, head of the Special Inspector General which was created as a successor to CPA, to provide oversight of the billions of dollars that was sent to Iraq for the Iraqi reconstruction program, told Time magazine on January, 2005 that the billions disappeared in frauds, corruption and other misbehavior.

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Emine Dilek (183 Posts)

Publisher/Managing Editor: Progressive Press. Contributing Editor: WVoN-Women's Views on News. Columnist: Palm Beach Woman Magazine. Former executive producer and radio host: WVR -Women's Voice Radio, Human Rights/Peace Activist, Aspiring Author/ Journalist/ Poet/ Blogger. Emine also appears as a revolving guest on PNN radio show -international political analyst-, and had been a guest on Liberal Fix and Brian Hammer Jackson Show. Her articles have been published in various publications such as The Vibe UK, The New Agenda, W.E.A Women @ Work, Amazing Women Rock and ICAHK.