Washington: US President George W Bush on May 7 appointed Jerry Bremer, a counter terrorism expert, as the Presidential Envoy to Iraq.

Describing Bremer as a man of enormous experience, Bush said, "Bremer, a counter terrorism expert, is a person who knows how to get things done; a can-do type of person; who shares the same values as most Americans share, and it is our deep desire to have an orderly country in Iraq that is free and at peace, where an average citizen has a chance to achieve his or her dreams."

According to analysts, Bremer is expected to bring order into the Iraqi civilian administration. Though he would be called Presidential Envoy, he would gradually take charge of Iraq until Iraq has its own government.

Bush made the announcement after holding a meeting with Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, after which defence officials announced that a truck they found in Iraq could be a mobile lab that could be used for conducting tests for weapons of mass destruction.

During a meeting of UN Security Council, US Secretary of State Colin Powell had expressed confidence about the recovery of the lab, which he included in the list of weapons of mass destruction and facilities to make them.

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Referring to the lab, Bush said, "We begin to uncover the weapons programme of Saddam Hussein because he had a weapons programme. I will leave the details to the experts, but one thing we know is that he had a weapons programme. We also know he spent years trying to hide the weapons programme. And over time the truth will come out and the American people will see that when we got Saddam Hussein out of power, we made America more secure."

PTI