Rusty Democrats Unable to Pin Anything on Bremer

"We seem to have rival tip-line Web sites," Waxman observed.

Then the new chairman made a crucial error: At the start of the 10 a.m. hearing, he allowed every member of a committee to make an opening statement. By the time Bremer uttered his first word, it was almost noon.

Democrats sounded menacing in their opening statements. "I'm curious about how it was that Mr. Bremer, a man who'd never been to Iraq, never led reconstruction efforts, could have been put in charge of the most important civil reconstruction program since the Marshall Plan," said Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.).

But Republicans, unexpectedly, were equally dedicated to Bremer's defense. "Our folks that we sent tried to do the best they could," said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). When Bremer did speak, his 1,800-word opening statement had but a sentence admitting fault, and that was quickly qualified. "I acknowledge that I made mistakes and that, with the benefit of hindsight, I would have made some decisions differently," he allowed. But he quickly listed the mitigating circumstances.

Waxman tried to direct more of the blame toward Bremer. He showed photos of bricks of American dollars bound for Iraq. "Ambassador Bremer, are you concerned about the possibility that some of this money went to ghost employees?" Waxman asked. "It might be showing up in the hands of the insurgents that are fighting U.S. troops."

"If there were evidence of that, I would certainly be concerned," Bremer deflected.

Other Democrats had no better luck. Rep. William Clay (D-Mo.) tried to elicit a mea culpa about Bremer's banning of prominent Baath Party members from government. "The mistake I made was letting the Iraqi politicians implement it," Bremer replied. "So it was the right policy, poorly implemented."

Rep. Diane Watson (D-Calif.) demanded to know "how can we in good conscience say to our constituents, 'Let's send them more money.' "

"I don't represent the administration," Bremer demurred.

Bremer represented only himself, but he did it ably.