Washington,
February 22 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – With troops
deployment in the Gulf region jumping to more than 200,000 in
preparation for war, the United States plans to take complete,
unilateral control of Iraq after the post-Saddam Hussein era, reported
a leading American newspaper on Saturday, February 22.
In
what seems to be a U-turn from the so-called democratization plans for
Post-Saddam Iraq, an interim administration headed by a yet-to-be
named American civilian would direct the reconstruction of Iraq and
the creation of a "representative" Iraqi government,
according to a now-finalized blueprint, reported The Washington
Post.
Gen.
Tommy Franks, the head of the U.S. Central Command, is to maintain
military control as long as U.S. troops are there, said the paper.
Once
security was established and alleged weapons of mass destruction were
located and disabled, a U.S. administrator would run the civilian
government and direct reconstruction and humanitarian aid, the paper
quoted the blueprint as saying.
According
to the blueprint, some 20 to 25 Iraqis would assist U.S. authorities
in a U.S.-appointed "consultative council," with no
governing responsibility, it added.
Under
a decision finalized last week, Iraqi government officials would be
subjected to "de-Baathification," a reference to Hussein's
ruling Baath Party, under a program that borrows from the "de-Nazification"
program established in Germany after World War II, said The
Washington Post.
Criteria
by which officials would be designated as too tainted to keep their
jobs are still being worked on, although they would likely be based
more on complicity with the alleged human rights and weapons abuses of
the Iraqi regime than corruption, it quoted officials as saying.
The
paper claimed that in the early days of military action, U.S. forces
following behind those in combat would distribute food and other
relief items and begin needed reconstruction.
The
goal, it quoted official as saying, would be to make sure the Iraqi
people "immediately" consider themselves better off than
they were the day before war, and attribute their improved
circumstances directly to the United States.
According
to The
Washington Post report
other governments are being recruited to participate in relief and
reconstruction tasks under U.S. supervision at a time to be decided by
Franks and officials in Washington.
No
Regional Interference
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|
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Grossman
told Congress it might be two years before the Iraqis regain
administrative control of their country
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The
paper said that an Iraqi government to be at the helm in Baghdad was
prohibited by Washington, as Iraqi opposition were informed this week
that the United States will not recognize an Iraqi provisional
government being discussed by some expatriate groups.
The
chief proponent of that idea, Ahmed Chalabi, head of the Iraqi
National Congress, was informed this week that any move to declare a
provisional Iraqi government "would result in a formal break in
the U.S.-INC relationship," The
Washington Post quoted
one official as saying.
The
Kurd leaders were
also enraged by the U.S plot to occupy the country, saying it
resulted from pressure from U.S. allies in the Middle East who fear a
war will lead to radical political change in the region.
The
Bush administration is particularly keen on averting interference by
other regional powers, and cites the "ability of people like the
Iranians and others to go in with money and create warlords"
sympathetic to their own interests, the paper quoted one official as
saying.
"We
don't want a weak federal government that plays into the hands of
regional powers" and allows Iraq to be divided into de facto
spheres of influence, he added.
"We
don't want the Iranians to be paying the Shiites, the Turks the
Turkmen and the Saudis the Sunnis," said the official, referring
to some of the main groups among dozens of Iraqi tribes and ethnic and
religious groups.
International
Administration
Yet
to be decided is "at what point and for what purpose" a
multinational administration, perhaps run by the United Nations, would
be considered to replace the U.S. civil authority, said The
Washington Post.
"We
have a load of plans that could be carried out by an international
group, a coalition group, or by us and a few others," one senior
U.S. official, adding that President George Bush doesn't want to close
options until the participants in a military action are known and the
actual postwar situation in Iraq becomes clear.
The
administration has declined to estimate how long U.S. forces would
remain in Iraq.
Undersecretary
of State Marc Grossman told Congress last week that it might be two
years before the Iraqis regained administrative control of their
country, the U.S. paper said.
But
"they're terrified of being caught in a time frame," said
the retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey, one of a number of senior
military and civilian experts who have been briefed by the Pentagon on
the plan.
McCaffrey
expected the U.S. occupation might take five years, “with
substantial military power, to establish and exploit the peace"
in Iraq.
As
for Iraqi military forces, they would be gathered in prisoner-of-war
camps, with opposition members now receiving U.S. training at an air
base in Hungary serving as part of the guard force, the paper said.
It
added that the Iraqi troops would be vetted by U.S. forces under
Franks's command, and those who were cleared, beginning with those who
"stood down or switched sides" during a U.S. assault, would
receive U.S. training to serve in what one official called a
"post-stabilization" force.
The
administration is continuing discussions with Arab governments about
the possibilities of exile for Hussein and several dozen of his family
members and top officials, said the paper.
The
blueprint included that U.N.-mandated weapons inspections in Iraq,
might be brought in to examine weaponry, scientists and documentation.
In
addition to the consultative council, an Iraqi commission would be
formed to reestablish a judicial system, said The
Washington Post.
An
additional commission would write a new constitution, although
officials emphasized that they would not expect to
"democratize" Iraq along the lines of the U.S. governing
system. Instead, they speak of a "representative Iraqi
government," added the paper.
The
White House plans to brief Congress and reporters on more details of
the plan next week.
More
U.S Deployments
In
another inexorable step towards war, the U.S announced its forces in
the region had surpassed 200,000 while Turkey said it was nearing an
accord for use of its strategic bases, ports and territory in a
possible invasion of Iraq.
The
announcement of force strength, by a Pentagon official who declined to
be named, included 98,000 troops in Kuwait which would serve as a
primary staging area for an invasion, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
reported.
The
United States Defense Department ordered on Tuesday, February 18, that
20,000 troops be deployed to the Arab Gulf region.
The
"highly mobile" U.S Army 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment was
included in the deployment
order which has been signed in recent days.
The
regiment, that includes 5,200 soldiers, can be used in defensive and
offensive operations as well as reconnaissance and security functions.
The
figures showed a ballooning U.S. military buildup in and around the
Gulf and in the Mediterranean despite a diplomatic impasse at the
United Nations over whether and when to authorize the use of force
against Iraq.
The
United States now has some 210,000 troops spread across the U.S.
Central Command's operational theatre and in the Mediterranean,
including 64,000 aboard U.S. warships in the Gulf and the
Mediterranean and 10,000 in Afghanistan, said the defense official.
