>From UN WIRE, 10/11/2002
U.S. Post-Hussein Plans
Regarding a post-Hussein Iraq, the Bush administration
is considering plans that would involve a large U.S.
military occupation of the country, senior U.S.
officials said yesterday.
Under the plan, U.S. troops would take control of Iraq
after Hussein is overthrown. An advisory group of
Iraqis and a military officer who would report to the
U.S. Central Command would be placed in charge of the
country, according to the Washington Post. The new
officials would be responsible for establishing order
in Iraq and preventing its breakup. Humanitarian
programs would also be started and the Iraqi oil
industry would be developed as a source of income, the
Post reported.
The priority of the military government would be to
find and destroy Iraq�s stockpiles of weapons of mass
destruction, an official said. In the chaos that
could result immediately after the overthrow of
Hussein, �these weapons could fall into the wrong
hands.�
It would take at least several months, at a minimum,
before a civilian regime would begin replacing the
U.S. military government, according to the Post. Only
after national institutions were established would
elections be held and control given completely over to
an Iraqi government, officials said.
The White House is �coalescing� around the plan, a
U.S. official said. Officials said, however, that no
formal decisions have yet been made.
�I think we�re all heading in the same direction,� a
senior U.S. policymaker said. �That does not mean
there couldn�t be changes. This is not carved in
stone� (Peter Slevin, Washington Post, Oct. 11).
One purpose of a U.S. military government in Iraq
would be to avoid a repeat of the instability that has
occurred in Afghanistan with the fall of the Taliban
regime, officials said. The United States is moving
away from the type of model used in Afghanistan -- the
establishment of a provisional government run by local
officials, White House officials said. While some
U.S. Defense Department officials supported the idea,
the U.S. State Department, CIA, and, in the end, the
White House opposed it.
�We�re just not sure what influence groups on the
outside would have on the inside,� a Bush
administration official said. �There would also be
differences among Iraqis, and we don�t want chaos and
anarchy in the early process� (Sanger/Schmitt, New
York Times, Oct. 11).
Even if Hussein were overthrown before any U.S.
military action, U.S. forces might still go in and
create a new government, especially if any new regime
appeared willing to follow in Hussein�s footsteps, an
official said.
�If it is a new regime that is Saddamism without
Saddam, that will not change things,� the official
said (Slevin, Washington Post).
Possible Intelligence Influences
Elsewhere in Washington, intelligence and
congressional sources have said the White House is
pressuring CIA analysts to alter assessments of the
Iraqi threat to develop a stronger case against
Hussein, according to the Los Angeles Times. Many
analysts have attempted to resist the administration�s
pressure, and they are becoming resentful of apparent
attempts to contaminate the intelligence process,
sources said.
�Analysts feel more politicized and more pushed than
many of them can ever remember,� said one intelligence
official. �The guys at the Pentagon shriek on issues
such as the link between Iraq and al-Qaeda. There has
been a lot of pressure to write on this constantly,
and to not let it drop.�
_______________________________________________________
John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED]
"The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world,
it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03
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