George W Bush has appointed former US state department official Paul Bremer as the top civil administrator in Iraq. Bremer, 61, will oversee the transition to 'democracy', and will also have authority over Jay Garner, the retired general currently in charge of reconstruction efforts who reports to the Pentagon. His first job will be the highly contentious task of having to select a new Iraqi interim administration. His appointment is said to have been designed to resolve bitter infighting between the Pentagon and the US state department over who controls the future of Iraq. Correspondents say that Secretary of State Colin Powell is known to have been unhappy for some time over the Pentagon's dominant role in post-war Iraq. Although Bremer will still report to the Pentagon, his appointment is being seen as a victory for the State Department. Described as a hard-headed conservative who commands the respect of all sides in Washington, Bremer is the former head of counter-terrorism at the state department. Most recently he has been running a consulting firm advising on risk management around the world. Announcing the appointment, Bush said he was "a person who knows how to get things done". "He's a can-do type person. The Ambassador goes with the full blessings of this administration and the full confidence of all of us in this administration that he can get the job done." The state department - which has radically different ideas for who should rule Iraq to the Pentagon - reportedly felt that as a military man, Jay Garner was the wrong person for the delicate task of selecting Iraq's future transitional rulers. Colin Powell has consistently argued that the task of winning peace should be supervised by civilians and that many of America's allies feel the same way. Bremer is also known as someone close to the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. **Paul Bremer's Career*** - Former assistant to six secretaries of state - 1983-1986: US ambassador to the Netherlands - 1986-1989: Ambassador-at-large for counter-terrorism - 1989: Joins consulting firm Kissinger Associates - 2001: Becomes chairman and CEO of the Crisis Consulting Practice of Marsh Inc **PHOTO CAPTION*** George W. Bush sits with longtime State Department official L. Paul Bremer, left, who is being appointed to be civil administrator in Iraq, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, May 6, 2003. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)