UpFront

Paul Bremer on Iraq occupation mistakes and accountability

Twenty years on from the US-led invasion, Marc Lamont Hill challenges the man tapped to oversee post-Saddam Iraq.

It’s been 20 years since the United States and a handful of allies invaded Iraq in March 2003.

The following years would herald decades of violence, instability and economic decline for the country.

The Iraq War killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and more than 4,000 US service members, gave rise to groups like al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), and cost billions in US taxpayer dollars. But what happened on the ground in the weeks and months that followed the invasion?

Paul Bremer was appointed by then US President George W Bush to head the Coalition Provisional Authority, the temporary transitional government established immediately after the invasion. He held the post from 2003 to 2004.

On UpFront, host Marc Lamont Hill challenges Bremer on the effects of his decisions in the first few months after the invasion and the legacy of these decisions for Iraq, its people and the region.