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| Iraq |
| Interim government to start as early as Tuesday |
| 2003-04-06 |
| The US is ready to install the first leg of an interim government for the new Iraq as early as Tuesday, even while fighting still rages in Baghdad, officials said yesterday. America's readiness to establish the first stages of a civil administration to run post-war Iraq comes at lightning speed and constitutes a rebuff to European ambitions to stall on the process until some kind of role for the United Nations is agreed. Once we've initiated the interim authority, it will moot the It was reported yesterday that the National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice has also ruled out any key role for the UN. Atta girl, Condi, stick to your guns on this one. The decision to proceed with an embryonic government comes in response to memoranda written by Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, urging that the US begin to entrench its authority in areas under its control before the war is over. Pentagon officials told The Observer that the administration is determined to impose the Rumsfeld plan and sees no use for a UN role, describing the international body as To spread rapidly thereafter. It will be installed by the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, under the former US army Lieutenant General Jay Garner, and answerable to the Pentagon. 'What we are going to start trying to do, even before the fighting is over in Iraq, is to move to the areas in Iraq that are relatively peaceful, places like Umm Qasr, and to start moving [the office of reconstruction] into Iraq,' the official said. 'It is a fair assessment to say that this is the first step to set up a civil administration in Iraq.' By brushing the UN aside at such an early stage, the move also places Tony Blair - whose own preference is for a UN role - in a difficult situation ahead of his meeting with Bush this week. Sorry Tony, but this is important to us. Rumsfeld presented two memoranda to the White House last week, urging the President to begin setting up government institutions in areas under US control. He said the new organs could install Iraqis returning from exile under the tutelage of American civilians answerable to General Garner. Organs? That's a Soviet-style word. But then, this is the Guardian. But his plan has been opposed even within the administration. Colin Powell is known to favour a military government established after victory is assured, prepared to nurture an Iraqi government centred around citizens resident in Iraq, rather than exiles sponsored by neo-conservatives in the Pentagon. General Garner's team works for the Pentagon. Doesn't that make it a military administration? General Garner is already set to make his media debut in Kuwait tomorrow as the man whom the US has named to be Iraq's temporary post-war civilian administrator. The US viceroy of the Southern region will be retired General Buck Walters; one of three governors slated to minister the new Iraqi provinces. The others are General Bruce Moore in the largely Kurdish north and former U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Barbara Bodine based in Baghdad, governing the central region. Sounds like a plan. Get going! |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 I wonder what kind of role, if any, they will give Gen Abazaid (hope I spelled that right). He's fluent in Arabic. We may be holding him in reserve, so he can be named the military governor of Syria, after the next phase of Operation Liberate all Arabs is successful. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-04-06 14:35:31 |
| #3 FRM, how about making Abazaid (I think you did spell it right, or else we're both spelling it wrong!) the commander of the occupation forces, while Garner heads the overall mission? Abazaid seems to have a good head on his shoulders, and as an Arabic-speaker can do all sorts of useful things: like, for instance, start to re-build a "national guard" for the new Iraqi government. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2003-04-06 14:25:18 |
| #2 Kofi & Co. are probably messing their pants right now. Think of all the oil money they are missing out on..... I wonder what kind of role, if any, they will give Gen Abazaid (hope I spelled that right). He's fluent in Arabic. That would be a definite plus in this situation. |
| Posted by: Former Russian Major 2003-04-06 12:39:31 |
| #1 Here is more about Garner: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2514842 I like this line: "man with an air of informality that belies an instinct to tackle trouble head on. "He wouldn't dodge bullets, he'd bite them," |
| Posted by: becky 2003-04-06 08:05:24 |