Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, then-Commander of the ground forces in Iraq, wrote: “On July 13, 2003, we had an elaborate ceremony to establish the new twenty-five person Iraqi Governing Council. Live television captured the speeches, the oaths of allegiance, and rest of the pomp and circumstance. [Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) leader] Ambassador [L. Paul] Bremer had personally chosen each of the members, and he had also given an order that all communications with the new governing council had to be based on his authority and coordinated through the CPA front office.”
– Ricardo S. Sanchez with Donald T. Phillips, Wiser in Battle, Page 233