“A rapid handover of sovereignty to the [Iraqi Governing] council ‘would be a mistake,’ [Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority L. Paul] Bremer told the Senate Armed Services Committee in late September [25, 2003]. ‘No appointed government…can have the legitimacy necessary to take on the difficult issues the Iraqis face as they write their constitution, elect a government and, I might add, undertake a major economic reconstruction effort. The only path to true Iraqi sovereignty is through a written constitution, ratified and followed by free democratic elections.’ ”
– Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Imperial Life in the Emerald City, Page 189