The debate came on a day where the Bush administration was repeatedly put on the defensive about why and how it attacked Iraq. The Bush administration began the day responding to statements by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the former head of the U.S. occupation, Paul Bremer, that sharply contradicted the administration’s official version of events. Rumsfeld admitted on Monday he had seen no “strong, hard evidence” showing a link between al Qaeda and Iraq. The comment created a firestorm in Washington, the Pentagon issued a statement saying Rumsfeld was misunderstood and that such a link did, in fact, exist. Meanwhile Bremer admitted to the Washington Post that “We never had enough troops on the ground” in Iraq, a claim that raised new questions about how effectively Bush had waged the war. Bremer, who was once seen as a possible candidate to replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State, also criticized the Bush administration for failing to stop the looting. He said “”We paid a big price for not stopping it, because it established an atmosphere of lawlessness”