Bremmer admits mistakes Bush won't.

[mburbank]

Bremer: U.S. Paid Price for Lack of Troops
AP wire


WASHINGTON - The United States did not have enough troops in Iraq after ousting Saddam Hussein and "paid a big price" for it, says the former head of the U.S. occupation there.

L. Paul Bremer said Monday that he arrived in Iraq on May 6, 2003 to find "horrid" looting and a very unstable situation.

"We paid a big price for not stopping it because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness," Bremer said during an address to an insurance group in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

The group released a summary of his remarks in Washington.

"We never had enough troops on the ground," Bremer said, while insisting that he was "more convinced than ever that regime change was the right thing to do."