Agence France-Presse, 21 March 2007
The coalition forces that invaded Iraq in March 2003 made a "mistake" in not handing power to Iraqis quickly enough, former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said in an interview on Wednesday.
"The real problem was in not relying more on Iraqis," Bolton told the BBC.
"By imposing the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) for a year, we denied the Iraqis at least a year of learning how to live with each other ... So in 20/20 hindsight, and I confess it's hindsight, that was a mistake, obviously ...
The CPA was established by the United States about two months after the March 2003 invasion, and was only dissolved in June 2004 in the run-up to national elections in Iraq.
"It's perfectly obvious given the circumstances that we should have handled it differently, and what I would have done differently is much earlier, much sooner after the overthrow, given it back to the Iraqis," he said.
Bolton, who was also formerly undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, was a staunch backer of the war in Iraq.
--------------------------
Citation: "Not handing power to Iraqis quickly was 'mistake': Bolton," Agence France-Presse, 21 March 2007.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070322/wl_mideast_afp/usbritainiraqpolitics
--------------------------