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Digest of Media Opinion - April 1, 2003
"U.S. Is Assembling a Civilian Team to Run Iraq" by Elizabeth Becker New York Times - March 25, 2003
"WASHINGTON, March 24 - The United States is preparing to establish immediate sole control of postwar Iraq, initially without recourse to the United Nations, with a civilian administration under the direct command of the military, according to senior administration officials." "Even before American troops reach Baghdad, administration officials are assembling a team of civilian officials, largely retired American diplomats, to run Iraq as soon as the fighting is over. The administration has decided that helping the country and its people recover after the war will require a civilian corps in place working with the military as it tries to establish security throughout the country."
"While the issue is debated at the United Nations and the European Union, the administration is going ahead with its plans for a civil peacekeeping operation under the direction of Jay Garner, the retired general who directs the Pentagon's new Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance."
"Senior officials are quick to say this arrangement is only temporary - lasting, they hope, no more than a few months - until an interim Iraqi government is in place. They also said they were still debating how to work with the United Nations when the time comes for that."
"Mr. Garner's team includes three regional coordinators and coordinators for reconstruction, civil administration and humanitarian assistance. They will oversee everything from emergency relief and refugees to long-term planning for roads, rail and waterways as well as economic development and weeding out senior officials of the ruling Baath Party of Saddam Hussein. A group of Iraqi expatriates will serve on an advisory council, according to the Pentagon."
"The administration has sought retired diplomats with a history in the area. Barbara Bodine, who was ambassador to Yemen in 2000 when the destroyer Cole was attacked, will serve in central Iraq. George Ward, the former ambassador to Namibia, will oversee humanitarian aid."
"Others who have tentatively agreed to serve under Mr. Garner include Kenton Keith, the former ambassador to Qatar and director of the Coalition Information Center in Islamabad, Pakistan, during the Afghanistan war; Robin Raphel, the former ambassador to Morocco, and Timothy M. Carney, former ambassador to the Sudan."
Full text of this article is not available online.
---------------------------------- "Pentagon, State Spar On Team to Run Iraq" by Karen DeYoung and Peter Slevin
Washington Post - April 1, 2003; Page A25
"Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld has rejected a team of officials proposed by the State Department to help run postwar Iraq in what sources described as an effort to ensure the Pentagon controls every aspect of reconstructing the country and forming a new government."
"While vetoing the group of eight current and former State Department officials, including several ambassadors to Arab states, the Pentagon's top civilian leadership has planned prominent roles in the postwar administration for former CIA director R. James Woolsey and others who have long supported the idea of replacing Iraq's government, according to sources close to the issue."
"The dispute is over who will occupy what are designed as de facto cabinet ministries under retired Gen. Jay M. Garner, the Pentagon-named head of a new Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, until the country can be fully handed over to Iraqis. By interagency agreement, portfolios such as education and trade were to be filled by the State Department, with the Pentagon choosing the "civilian advisers" for other departments."
"Garner had asked the State Department for a list of names, and the eight selected officials went through security and other training in preparation for departure for Kuwait last week. At the last minute, however, they were told to "stand down" until further notice."
""We've been told there is a big disagreement between State and Defense over who controls the personnel in Garner's group," said one of the officials. One source said that Rumsfeld had labeled the group of officials "too low-profile and bureaucratic" for the work envisioned in Iraq. In the chain of command, Garner's office falls under Gen. Tommy R. Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, which is running military operations in Iraq. Franks answers to Rumsfeld."
"Divisions between the State and Defense departments have marked virtually every phase of Iraq policy, beginning with President Bush's decision last summer to follow Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's advice to take the issue to the United Nations. When the U.N. effort fell apart early this month, the two sides came together on the decision to launch a war to unseat Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. But disagreements have reemerged over differing visions of Iraq's postwar future, with the State Department looking for a less visible U.S. military role and perhaps ultimately a U.N. administration."
"The quick distribution of food and medical aid as a means of winning over the Iraqi citizenry has been an integral part of U.S. plans for the war and its aftermath. U.S.-controlled parts of the country were to be flooded with assistance, supervised by State Department relief officials in coordination with non-governmental organizations and the United Nations. Aid workers have insisted for months to Defense Department planners that they must not be seen as an arm, or even a close partner, of the U.S. military. Although U.S.-led troops would be expected to provide essential security, the non-governmental organizations said, they needed to make their own decisions about which needy communities to help."
"Powell's letter to Rumsfeld, sources said, "clarified" that U.S. Disaster Response Teams, known as DARTs, which are coordinating the effort among the various relief agencies, would report to the State Department's U.S. Agency for International Development (AID), rather than to Garner. "Garner can be the best guy in the world," said one administration official who opposed Garner's control of the relief effort, "but he is painted with Pentagon colors and that will turn away a number of partners" from the U.N. and non-governmental communities. "I don't think this administration needs the turmoil that would ensue.""
Full text of this article is available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63223-2003Mar31.html
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