Gen. Tommy Franks would be military commander in a U.S.-occupied Iraq

WASHINGTON, October 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The White House has a plan for the occupation of Iraq that calls for an American-led military government and war-crime trials for Iraqi leaders, the New York Times reported Friday, October 11.

"The White House is developing a detailed plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Iraq," the paper quoted unnamed senior administration officials as saying. 

The plan also calls for war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders and a transition to an elected civilian government that could take "months or years", the officials told the daily.

In the initial phase, Iraq would be governed by an American military commander, perhaps Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of United States forces in the Arab Gulf, or one of his subordinates, who would assume the role that Gen. Douglas MacArthur served in Japan after its surrender in 1945, the daily said.

"For as long as the coalition partners administered Iraq," the daily said, "they would essentially control the second largest proven reserves of oil in the world, nearly 11 percent of the total."

In contemplating an occupation, the administration is scaling back the initial role for Iraqi opposition forces in a post-Hussein government. 

"Until now it had been assumed that Iraqi dissidents both inside and outside the country would form a government, but it was never clear when they would take full control," the paper said.

Bush's new plan includes controlling second largest proven reserves of oil in the world

Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could be a lengthy occupation by coalition forces, led by the United States, it added.

The officials said they were moving away from the Afghanistan model of establishing a provisional government right away that would be run by Iraqis.
"We're just not sure what influence groups on the outside would have on the inside," an administration official said. "There would also be differences among Iraqis, and we don't want chaos and anarchy in the early process."

"Mr. Bush's aides say they also want ‘full control’ over Iraq while American-led forces carry out their principal mission: finding and destroying weapons of mass destruction," the paper said. 

The description of the emerging American plan and the possibility of war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders could be part of an administration effort to warn Iraq's generals of an unpleasant future if they continue to support President Saddam Hussein, the daily added. 

Asked what would happen if American pressure prompted a coup against Hussein, a senior official said, "That would be nice." But the official suggested that the American military might enter and secure the country anyway, not only to eliminate weapons of mass destruction but also to ensure against anarchy.

He added that under the compromise now under discussion with France, Russia and China, according to officials familiar with the talks, the United Nations Security Council would approve a resolution requiring the disarmament of Iraq and specifying "consequences" that Iraq would suffer for defiance. 

It would stop well short of the explicit authorization to enforce the resolution that Bush has sought. But the diplomatic strategy, now being discussed in Washington, Paris and Moscow, would allow Bush to claim that the resolution gives the United States all the authority he believes he needs to force Baghdad to disarm. 

Other Security Council members could offer their own, less muscular interpretations, and they would be free to draft a second resolution, authorizing the use of force, if Iraq frustrated the inspection process. The United States would regard that second resolution as unnecessary, senior officials say.

"Everyone would read this resolution their own way," one senior official said.

The revelation of the occupation plan marks the first time the administration has described in detail how it would administer Iraq in the days and weeks after an invasion, Times said.

It coincides with a vote by Congress to authorize President George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq.

Some experts warned during Senate hearings last month that a prolonged American military occupation of Iraq could inflame tensions in the Middle East and the Muslim world. 

"I am viscerally opposed to a prolonged occupation of a Muslim country at the heart of the Muslim world by Western nations who proclaim the right to re-educate that country," said former secretary of state, Henry A. Kissinger, who as a young man served as a district administrator in the military government of occupied Germany.

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