Mike Levin: “I asked Ambassador Bremer when we met with him: At a minimum, would he not raise this issue with the Governing Council…”

“I asked Ambassador Bremer when we met with him: At a minimum, would he not raise this issue with the Governing Council to see whether or not the views of the President of the Governing Council, that the Iraqi army regular units should be reconstituted, represent the views of the Governing Council itself. We surely should listen to those views. These are the folks we put in office there as representing the Iraqi people. At a minimum, I urged Ambassador Bremer to find out formally from that Governing Council whether or not the President's views, as represented by this article in the New York Times--that the regular units of the army, properly vetted to make sure we don't hire old members of the Saddam leadership--should be reconstituted to help us maintain order and security in Iraq. I believe Ambassador Bremer will in fact make that request of the Governing Council--not the request to reconstitute the army, because I don't think Ambassador Bremer is there yet, but the request of the Governing Council to see if they agree that it would be wise for those units below the mid-level officer level to be reconstituted, properly vetted, to help us on the streets of Baghdad and in the areas which are very dangerous, and to take some of the pressure off our troops to make us less of a target and to have Iraqis gradually but more quickly take over their own security so that we are not a lightning rod for the folks who are trying to destroy us.”