A disagreement has broken out at a senior level within the Bush
administration over a new government that the US is secretly
planning in Kuwait to rule Iraq in the immediate period after the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein.
Under the plan, the government will consist of 23
ministries, each headed by an American. Every ministry will also
have four Iraqi advisers appointed by the Americans, the Guardian
has learned.
The government will take over Iraq city by city. Areas
declared "liberated" by General Tommy Franks will be
transferred to the temporary government under the overall control
of Jay Garner, the former US general appointed to head a military
occupation of Iraq.
In anticipation of the Baghdad regime's fall, members of
this interim government have begun arriving in Kuwait.Decisions on
the government's composition appear to be entirely in US hands,
particularly those of Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of
defence. This has annoyed Gen Garner, who is officially in charge
but who, according to sources close to the planning of the
government, has had to accept the inclusion of a number of
controversial Iraqis in advisory roles.
The most controversial of Mr Wolfowitz's proposed appointees
is Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the opposition Iraqi National
Congress, together with his close associates, including his
nephew.During his years in exile, Mr Chalabi has cultivated links
with Congress to raise funds, and has become the Pentagon's
darling among the Iraqi opposition. The defence secretary, Donald
Rumsfeld, is one of his strongest supporters.
The state department and CIA, on the other hand, regard him
with deep suspicion.
Mr Chalabi had envisaged becoming prime minister in an
interim government, and is disappointed that no such post is
included in the US plan. Instead, the former banker will be
offered an advisory job at the finance ministry.A senior INC
official said last night that Mr Chalabi would not countenance a
purely advisory position. The official added: "It is
certainly not the INC's intention to advise any US ministers in
Iraq. Our position is that no Americans should run Iraqi
ministries. The US is talking about an interim Iraqi authority
taking over, but we are calling for a provisional
government."
The revelation about direct rule is likely to cause intense
political discomfort for Tony Blair, who has been pressing for UN
and international involvement in Iraq's reconstruction to overcome
opposition in Britain as well as heal divisions across Europe.
The Foreign Office said last night that a "relatively
fluid" number of British officials had been seconded to the
planning team.
Last week Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, told
Congress that immediately after the fall of President Saddam's
regime, the US military would take control of the Iraqi
government.
His only concession was that this would be done with the
"full understanding" of the international community and
with "the UN presence in the form of a UN special
coordinator".
By imposing Mr Chalabi and his clique on the official
administration-in-waiting, Mr Wolfowitz seems to be trying to
appease the INC leader, even at the risk of annoying Gen Garner
and those in Washington who consider him unsuitable for a senior
post.
Mr Chalabi is former chairman of the Petra Bank in Jordan
which collapsed, bringing ruin to many of its depositors. He was
eventually convicted of fraud in his absence by a Jordanian court,
though he maintains he is innocent. Mr Chalabi has not lived in
Iraq since 1956, apart from a short period organising resistance
in the Kurdish north in the 1990s, and is thought to have little
support inside Iraq.US civilian head for Iraq took paid trip to
Israel
Comment: When Hitler launched
his troops in an undeclared war against Poland in September of
1939, plans were already drawn up for the occupation of that
country, to be called the General Gouvernment. The country was
divided into districts to be administrated by German officials,
backed by German police and security units. A reading of these
plans indicates a close and very unpleasant similarity to the new
Bush plans for the occupation and rule of Iraq by American
Proconsuls supported by American security forces. The more things
change, the more they stay the same. Lt.Col. Harold R. Krieg
AUS, ret
WASHINGTON,
March 25 (Reuters) - The retired U.S. general named as civilian
governor of occupied Iraq has visited Israel at the expense of a
lobbying group which says the United States needs Israel to
project U.S. force in the Middle East.
The
coordinator for civilian administration in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Jay
Garner, put his name to an October 2000 statement blaming
Palestinians for the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence and
saying that a strong Israel is an important security asset to the
United States.
The
statement was sponsored by the Jewish Institute for National
Security Affairs (JINSA), which pays for senior retired U.S.
military officers to visit Israel for security briefings by
Israeli officials and politicians.
Richard
Perle, one of the architects of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, is a
member of the institute's board of advisers, as was Vice President
Dick Cheney before he took office in 2001.
Garner
went on its annual trip to Israel in 1998, Shoshana Bryen,
director of special projects at JINSA, told Reuters.
In
the 2000 statement, Garner and 42 other senior retired officers
said: "We are appalled by the Palestinian political and
military leadership that teaches children the mechanics of war
while filling their heads with hate.
"The
security of the State of Israel is a matter of great importance to
U.S. policy in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean, as well
as around the world. A strong Israel is an asset that American
military planners and political leaders can rely on," the
statement added.
A
U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said the United States
was planning to install Garner as civil administrator in Iraq, and
Barbara Bodine, a former ambassador to Yemen, as his coordinator
for civil administrator.
JINSA's
mission statement, on its Web site, says the United States should
maintain a presence in the Middle East because of its energy
resources, governments "amassing weapons of mass
destruction" and "the inherent instability in the region
caused primarily by inter-Arab rivalries."
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