Daily Inspiration Quote by Paul Bremer

Bremer’s line is a political shortcut with a moral payload: it shifts the argument from policy to identity, from debatable choices to an almost metaphysical innocence. “Not for what we do” tries to scrub history out of the room. It pre-empts the messy questions a public might ask in the wake of U.S. intervention - casualties, occupation, coercion, blowback - and replaces them with a cleaner narrative in which America is hated simply for existing as itself. That is persuasive because it turns critique into prejudice: if the enemy despises “who we are,” then no adjustment in behavior can matter, and deliberation starts to look like weakness.

The phrasing is built for consequence. “These people” is deliberately vague, collapsing distinct actors and motives into a single hostile mass. The repetition of “we” and “are” manufactures solidarity, inviting listeners to experience foreign resentment as a personal attack on identity rather than a reaction to decisions. It’s a move that narrows the emotional bandwidth: the appropriate response becomes defense, not reflection.

Context matters. Bremer was the face of the U.S. occupation authority in Iraq, a moment when legitimacy hinged on explaining why anger toward America was rising. Framing hostility as existential hatred protects leadership from accountability and shores up resolve at home. The subtext is blunt: if motives are essentially irrational, then extraordinary measures - militarized security, sweeping authority, long timelines - can be justified as unfortunate necessities rather than contested choices.