Bremer, head of the State Department's counter-terrorism office, will be the senior ranking civilian U.S. representative in the country and will head the reconstruction team now led by retired Gen. Jay Garner.
"In selecting Jerry Bremer, our country will be sending one of our best citizens," Bush said in the Oval Office.
Bush said Bremer, like most Americans, wanted to see an Iraq that is "free and at peace where every citizen has a chance to achieve his or her dreams."
"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," he said.
In the Oval Office with the president and Bremer, who did not speak to reporters, was national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Bremer, 61, spent 23 years in diplomatic service and was ambassador-at-large for counter-terrorism in the Reagan administration.
In Iraq, Bremer will oversee U.S. efforts to rebuild the country and bring about a new government following the toppling last month of Saddam Hussein.
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