Washington: On the premise that war against Iraq by the US and its "coalition of
willing" is unavoidable, the Bush administration has conveyed its plans to the
Congress for a two-year occupation of Iraq after the war.
"Americans aim to enter Iraq as liberators and depart after helping to create a
stable, democratic government on a path towards economic security," Marc Grossman,
Undersecretary of State, and Douglas J Feith, Undersecretary of Defence, told the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee on February 11.
Retired Army Lt Gen Jay M Garner, as the top-rank officer in post-war Iraq, would be
Coordinator for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, the senior officials
said.
Gen Garner would be responsible to General Tommy R Franks - Commander-in-Chief of
Central Command. General Franks is responsible for the Middle East.
The Pentagon would play the lead role in relief and reconstruction efforts but would
hope to relinquish some authority quickly to Iraqi ministries, international
organisations and groups, they said.
Grossman estimated that Iraqis could regain control of the country in two years.
The officials said the administration is committed to preserve Iraq's territorial
integrity and ensure that a broad-based government representing various ethnic and
religious groups is established.
Other objectives listed by Grossman and Feith include elimination of Iraq's weapons
of mass destruction and its ties to terrorists.
On oil, Grossman and Feith said the resource should remain under Iraqi control and
the proceeds should be put to use for supporting Iraqis.
The US plans, meanwhile, have alarmed some of the Iraqi Opposition leaders who have
urged the United States to "liberate" Iraq.
Leaders of Iraqi National Congress, the principal exiled group, headed by Ahmed
Chalabi, have said the administration's plan, risks leaving in place an Iraqi
administration dominated by the country's Sunni Muslim minority and veterans of
President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, the 'Washington Post' reported from
Sulaymaniyah in Iraq.
They said the American plan, described last week in Ankara, seemed to reflect fears
in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt that immediate democracy in Iraq could be
destabilising.
A major problem in organising a democratic government in Iraq, analysts have pointed
out, is to give balanced representation to the non-Arab Kurdish minority, the
Shiites, who are a majority in the country but who have lacked political power, and
the ruling Sunni minority.
Chalabi, who did not attend the briefing by US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Ankara, said
the US plan envisions that only the top two officials at each Iraqi Ministry would be
removed and replaced by the US military officers.
PTI
