For Immediate Release
April 7, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by CPA Administrator Bremer in interviews with NBC's "Today" show, CNN's "American Morning," and CBS's "Early Show," 4/5/04

Our friends in Iraq are the 90 percent of the Iraqis who have the same vision for Iraq as we do -- a democratic country where power comes not from the barrel of a gun, but from a ballot.

The recent violence in Iraq is not due to a Shi'a uprising, as some have called it. It is an illegal militia run by an outlaw.

This militia has attacked Iraqis -- Iraqi police, the Iraqi Army, the Iraqi civil defense force -- and coalition forces and Americans.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Muqtada Al-Sadr, whose followers have caused increased violence in northeastern Baghdad.

Sadr's efforts represent a fundamental challenge to the concept of the rule of law in Iraq, and it will not stand.

Sadr has usurped authority in the holy city of Najaf; he and his colleagues have occupied police stations and government buildings around the country.

There is no question that the coalition has control of the country. Around Iraq, a bustling economy exists, and unemployment has dropped to below 10 percent in the three major cities of the country. Unemployment was more than 60 percent at liberation. Reconstruction projects are going forward.

The attacks will be stopped. Coalition forces will suppress this militia, which is illegal. The political process will proceed.