Bremer Offers Condolences to Baghdad Bombing Victims

CPA administrator says terrorists "will not succeed"

Coalition Provisional Authority Administrator Ambassador Paul Bremer issued a statement of condolence October 13 to the victims of the terrorist car bombing in Baghdad of October 12. According to news reports, at least six bystanders were killed and 32 injured in the explosion.

Bremer said that the coalition would not be intimidated by this latest terrorist act, and that the coalition "will work with the Iraqi police to find those responsible and bring them to justice." Following is the text of Bremer's statement:

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COALITION PROVISION AUTHORITY

Baghdad, Iraq

13 October 2003

Statement by Ambassador Bremer on Today's Bombing

I want to express the condolences of the men and women of the Coalition to all those killed and injured by these terrorists. The terrorists know that the Iraqi people and the Coalition are succeeding in the reconstruction of Iraq. They do not share the vision of hope for this new Iraq. They will do anything, including taking the lives of innocent Iraqis, to draw attention away from the extraordinary progress made since liberation. The terrorists will not succeed. Neither the Coalition nor the Iraqi people will be intimidated from our path to a democratic Iraq. We will work with the Iraqi police to find those responsible and bring them to justice. With the Iraqi people, we will continue to build a new Iraq, an Iraq which will replace terrorism with hope.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)