 After receiving permission from Secretary Rumsfeld, Bremer briefed President Bush by video conference and subsequently signed the order on 23 May.However, Bush said in a later interview that the initial plan was to maintain the Iraqi Army, and he was not sure why that did not occur.In response to this report, Bremer provided "The New York Times" with a letter sent by him on 22 May through the Secretary of Defense to the President that described the measure, to which the President sent a thank you letter.