On May 16, 2003, Director of Reconstruction in Iraq Paul “Bremer told Iraqi leaders that an interim government would not be formed by the end of the month [as was originally planned by Jay Garner when he was Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance]–and that the idea of an interim government with real sovereign authority had been indefinitely postponed. Instead, the Americans and their allies would remain in control of Iraq under the newly formed Coalition Provisional Authority, led by an administrator (Bremer) who would exercise all executive, legislative, and judicial power, manage ministries, and supervise the drafting of a constitution. The longer-term American occupation, which many Iraqis had warned against and which Garner himself resisted, had begun.”
– Larry Diamond, Squandered Victory, Page 37