Besides rebuilding Iraq’s economy, infrastructure, and government, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) also focused upon creating new security forces for the country. This was greatly complicated by the fact that CPA head Paul Bremer disbanded the Iraqi military as soon as he arrived in Iraq, and then lacked the money, personnel, and time to achieve his goals. Infighting, and lack of pre-war planning back in Washington crippled many of the CPA’s ideas as well. The growing insurgency undermined much of the early work at creating new police and military units as they were thrown into the fray before they were ready. In the end, one of the few successes the U.S. had in the reconstruction of Iraq was to create a new Iraqi military and police, but it would take years. In the early years of the occupation, that outcome could hardly have been predicted due to all the setbacks and problems the Americans ran into trying to secure the country.

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