Posted on 04/18/2003 8:09:29 PM PDT by fightinJAG
Edited on 04/18/2003 8:12:50 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 18 — Western officials working on the reconstruction of Iraq agreed Friday that an interim authority in Baghdad could take over most government functions from the U.S. military in only a few weeks.
THE OFFICIALS, who are part of the organization put together by the Pentagon’s administrator in Iraq, retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, confirmed statements Friday by Iraqi opposition leader Ahmad Chalabi that the interim authority would assume power “sooner rather than later, a matter of weeks rather than months.” The officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, would not be more specific, but they said they had no quarrel with the timetable laid out by Chalabi, who said at a news conference that “the Iraqi interim authority will be chosen by Iraqis and will take over the business of government.” Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, the most prominent of a quarrelsome collection of exile groups that formed in opposition to the government of deposed President Saddam Hussein, said the first stage would be “reconstruction of basic services, done by Jay Garner.” “I expect this step to take a few weeks,” he said, with a new constitution and general elections two years down the road. Ultimately, Chalabi said, the U.S. military would have just three functions in Iraq: to eradicate any weapons of mass destruction, to dismantle the ousted regime’s “apparatus of terror” and to disarm the previous regime’s army. “The United States of America does not want to run Iraq,” Chalabi said. “That is the policy of the United States. That’s what President Bush has said, and I believe him.”
Here's to hoping so, but I seriously doubt it. To do it right, we'll need about a year, if not more.
I know, I know. One misstep after another. Another Vietnam. LOL!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.