"The United States intends to stay in Iraq "as long as necessary", but not one day more," Wolfowitz

WASHINGTON, April 11 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Thursday, April 10, outlined a three-stage transition for Iraq from its current status without a functioning government to occupation by U.S.-led forces, to eventual self-governance, adding that France should pay for opposing war and that Russia should now forget about ever winning back its debts from Iraq.

Paul Wolfowitz told the Senate Armed Services Committee that in the first phase, Iraq will be governed by the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, which has the task of overseeing the delivery of humanitarian aid and restoring basic services while “coalition” forces gain control over all of Iraq, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

As soon as basic services are running again, the administration of Iraq would be turned over to the Iraqi interim authority, which will draw from all of Iraq's religious and ethnic groups, to include both Iraqis currently outside the country and those inside.

"It will provide a way for Iraqis to begin immediately to direct the political and economic reconstruction of their country," Wolfowitz said.

"The interim authority's most important responsibility will be to set in motion a process leading to the creation of a new Iraqi government, for example, by setting up local elections or drafting a new constitution," the deputy secretary added.

Finally… A Government

In the final phase, an Iraqi government would assume full control over the country, "on the basis of elections in accordance with a new constitution," said Wolfowitz.

"Our intention is to leave Iraq in the hands of Iraqis themselves as soon as we can. As President Bush has said, the United States intends to stay in Iraq as long as necessary, but not one day more," Wolfowitz said.

France Should Pay For Opposing Invasion

Moving to settling scores with those who opposed U.S.-led aggression on Iraq, Wolfowitz said that France should "pay some consequences" for its opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq, particularly for its veto of NATO support for Turkey.

"The French have behaved in ways ... that have been very damaging to NATO. I think France is going to pay some consequences, not just with us but with our countries who view it that way," he told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

"But I don't think we want to make the Iraqi people the victims of that particular quarrel," he said.

General James Jones, the supreme allied commander in Europe, told the committee that France's military cooperation has continued as usual within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

He noted that France and Germany, while opposing the war, have allowed U.S. and British warplanes to use their airspace to conduct air strikes on Iraq.

France "plays roughly the same role in formulating military positions in response to taskings from the North Atlantic Council as does any other member nation."

Wolfowitz said that France had contributed to the U.S.-led effort to oust the Taliban militia from Afghanistan.

"France has actually made some significant contributions in Afghanistan. And I think that's probably -- we should note that," he said.

"The French, on a bilateral basis, frequently do things with us that they then don't support in NATO."

"If we just looked at our military relationship, you'd get a reasonably healthy view of things. It's the politicians, I guess, that we have an issue," Wolfowitz said.

'Forget About Your Debts From Iraq'

Wolfowitz also told the Congress Thursday that France, Germany and Russia could contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq by wiping clean Iraq's enormous debt.

"I hope for example they'll think about the very large debts that come from money that was lent to Saddam Hussein to buy weapons and to build palaces and to build instruments of repression," he said.

The three countries Wolfowitz cited had opposed the U.S.-British war on Iraq, saying more time should have been given to U.S. weapons inspectors to do their job.

"I think they ought to consider whether it might not be appropriate to forgive some or all of that debt so that the new Iraqi government isn't burdened with it.

"There's a great deal they can do," he said. "This is a time to think about the future."

'Syria's Turn'

Continuing U.S. officials campaign on Syria, Wolfowitz told lawmakers that Syria had been "behaving badly" but that no U.S. military intervention was anticipated.

"The Syrians are behaving badly, they need to be reminded of that and if they continue we need to think about our what our policy is," Wolfowitz said.

"It's very dubious behavior, and by calling attention to it we hope that in fact it will be enough to have them stop," he said, claiming that Syria harbors terrorists and war criminals and has shipped "things" to Iraq.

The U.S. administration had said it feared burning oil wells, chemical weapon attacks and a military quagmire but the statue of Saddam Hussein fell in central Baghdad without the “nightmare scenarios” coming true and without finding any banned weapons in Iraq.

Wolfowitz's testimony followed remarks by Secretary of State Colin Powell in an interview published Thursday in which he sought to assuage Syrian and Iranian fears that they might be the next targets of U.S. military action.

"We believe that all of these nations -- Syria, Iran, others -- should realize that pursuing weapons of mass destruction, supporting terrorist activities, is not in their interest," Powell told the Los Angeles Times.

"That doesn't mean that war is coming to them, it just means that the world is changing," he added.

Both Syria and Iran, along with Iraq, North Korea and three other nations, are designated as "state sponsors of terrorism" by the United States which also accuses them of pursuing weapons of mass destruction.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday, April 9, that Syria seemed to be ignoring Washington's increasingly strident warnings against providing military assistance to Iraq.

"They seem to have made a conscious decision to ignore that. We find it notably unhelpful," Rumsfeld said.

He did not elaborate on which members of the Iraqi leadership may have slipped into Syria, but a senior U.S. official said there were "strong indications" that several of Saddam's relatives, including his first wife, had crossed the border in the days leading up to the war.

The same official said that others believed to have ties to Saddam, although not necessarily high up in the government, were thought to have gone into hiding in Syria more recently.

Syria has told the United States it has closed its border with Iraq to all but humanitarian traffic, U.S. officials said Thursday as they stepped up warnings to Damascus not to assist the remnants of Saddam Hussein's government.

"We now understand that Syria has closed its borders to all but humanitarian traffic," U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "That's what they have told us and we certainly hope that proves to be true."