New U.S. Civilian Overseer Arrives in Southern Iraq

BASRA, Iraq — The new American civilian administrator of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer III, arrived today to take over the task of piecing this country back together and setting it on a democratic course.

Bremer arrived in this southern city with Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the man Bremer replaced as the senior American civilian in Iraq, retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner.

The three men met in Qatar on Sunday and flew together to Kuwait that evening. This morning they flew aboard an Air Force MC-130 special operations aircraft to Basra.

Following the U.S.-issued decree on Sunday dissolving Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party, Bremer was said to be considering issuing additional orders dissolving the deposed dictator’s former defense and security apparatus, including the Republican Guard and the Special Republican Guard that were loyal to him.