Ambassador Paul Bremer Named Presidential Envoy to Iraq

US President George Bush named Ambassador Paul "Jerry" Bremer to be presidential envoy to Iraq, the White House announced May 6.

At an Oval Office ceremony, the president announced Bremer's selection, calling him "a man of enormous experience" and "a can-do type person." The president said Bremer "goes with the full blessings of this administration, and the full confidence of all of us ... that he can get the job done."

Bremer previously served as chairman and chief executive officer of Marsh Crisis Consulting. Prior to that he was managing director of the Kissinger Group, the White House said. In his government career, Bremer was a State Department Foreign Service Officer for 23 years, serving as ambassador to the Netherlands and as President Reagan's ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism.

Bremer will serve as the senior Coalition official in Iraq, reporting to the president through Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the White House said. U.S. Army General Tommy Franks will remain in command of coalition military personnel in theater, according to the statement.