Former US ambassador to Yemen likely be administrator in post-war Baghdad (Barbara Bodine)

Agence France-Presse | March 7, 2003

[HAL9000]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former US ambassador to Yemen would likely be named as the interim civil administrator of the Baghdad region under a US plan for a post-war reconstruction of Iraq, US officials said.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the plan calls for dividing Iraq into three sectors with each being run by a separate interim civil administrator during the transition to some form of democratic government.

US military commanders will be responsible for securing their areas in the immediate aftermath of a war, but then the job of rebuilding and governing would be turned over to the interim transitional civil administration, the official said.

Overseeing the effort will be retired general Jay Garner, who is heading the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Affairs.

Two retired US generals would be the civil administrators in charge of the northern and southern sectors while the central sector that includes Baghdad would be administered by Barbara Bodine, the former US ambassador to Yemen, according to the officials.

"That would fall into her sector," said a US official, who asked not to be identified.

"She'd be a big player," said a senior US defense official.

Bodine was ambassador to Yemen when al-Qaeda terrorists rammed an explosives-laden boat into a US Aegis destroyer on October 12, 2000, killing 17 sailors and nearly sinking the billion dollar ship.

She spent much of her career as a diplomat in southwest Asia and the Arabian peninsula, with postings that included Baghdad from 1981-83.

She was deputy chief of mission of the US Embassy in Kuwait when Iraqi forces invaded and occupied the country in 1990.

Defying an order by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for all embassies to close, the US embassy stayed open and provided shelter for more than 200 Americans through the occupation.

Bodine received a Secretary of State's Award for Valor for her work during that period.

She also has had first hand experience with terrorism. She negotiated the release of three kidnapped Americans in Yemen in 1999 and was a passenger on an airliner that was hijacked from Yemen to Africa in 2001.

After coming home from Kuwait, she served as the State Department's acting coordinator for counter-terrorism.

[anniegetyourgun]

Oh dear, the libs are gonna be seething over another woman of influence surfacing in this administration again.....

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[UncleSamUSA]

Since this report is originating with a French news service, you know it is total BS.

[RightWhale]

It isn't a partitioning of Iraq. Those are administrative sectors and will be re-united eventually. There was going to be an American sector, a British sector, and a Turkish sector. Now it looks like two American sectors and a British sector.

[HAL9000]

Ambassador Barbara K. Bodine
(former) U.S. Ambassador to Yemen

Barbara K. Bodine, a career member of the Senior Foreign Service, is currently Diplomat in Residence at the University of Southern California, Santa Barbara. She last served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Yemen. During her posting in Sanaa, the U.S.S. Cole was bombed in a terrorist attack.  In 1999, she negotiated for hours to release three Americans kidnapped in Yemen. In 2001, a flight carrying Ambassador Bodine and 90 other passengers from Yemen was hijacked mid-flight. The plane was diverted to Africa, where it landed without further incident.

After initial tours in Hong Kong and Bangkok, Ambassador Bodine has spent her career working primarily on Southwest Asia and the Arabian Peninsula. She has twice served in the Bureau of Near East Affairs' Office of Arabian Peninsula Affairs, first as Country Officer for the Yemenis, then as Political-Military officer for the peninsula. She later served as Deputy Office Director. Ambassador Bodine has also had assignments as Deputy Principal Officer in Baghdad, Iraq, and as Deputy Chief of Mission in Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion and occupation in 1990. She was awarded the Secretary of State's Award for Valor for her work in occupied Kuwait.

Following Kuwait, Ambassador Bodine was the Associate Coordinator for Operations and later served as the Acting Coordinator for Counterterrorism. She went on to serve as the Dean of Professional Studies at the Department's Foreign Service Institute. She has worked on the secretariat staff of Secretaries Kissinger and Vance, and as a Congressional Fellow in the office of Senator Robert Dole. Most recently, Ms. Bodine spent a year as the Director of East African Affairs.

Ambassador Bodine was born in 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri. She earned her B.A. in Political Science and Asian Studies, and graduated magna cum laude from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She received her Master's degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Massachusetts. She also studied at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Department of State's Language Training Field Schools in Taiwan and Tunisia. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and serves on the Board of Directors of the UCSB Alumni Association and on the Advisory Council to the Program on Southwest Asian and Islamic Civilization Studies at the Fletcher School. She was the recipient of the UC Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumni Award in 1991.

[ChefKeith]

Bodine ?

Hopefully related to the NASCAR Bodine's

Give them camel drivers something new to race!

[Donna Lee Nardo]

She clashed with former (and late) FBI counter-terrorism agent John O'Neil (he -- ironically -- died on 911 while in his brand-spanking-new job as head of security for the WTC). Bodine also put a wrench in O'Neil's work to try to investigate the Cole bombing. She's a bitch evidently and bad news for sure.

[tracer]

I recall that it was on her orders that the USS Cole did not "offend" the dear Yemenis with an "excessive" show of security topside.

Typical devastation wreaked by State on the security of our military and the Nation its works to protect and defend...

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

Hopefully no kin to this Bodine!

[VaBthang4]

Comnplete and Total B***S***!

[caltrop]

Am I the only one who wonders about the wisdom of putting a woman in charge of part of an Arab country? Wouldn't that be making it more difficult than it has to be?

[El Gato]

putting a woman in charge of part of an Arab country? Wouldn't that be making it more difficult than it has to be?

More humiliating maybe. As it should be. Kind of like appointing a Jew the post war adminstrator of whichever German State had Buchewald in it would have been. If she's Jewish, so much the better. They need to know they were beat bad, real bad. And to know that we could do it again if we wanted.

[American Soldier]

That was my first thought... Also, why a diplomat? They are by nature negotiators, not leaders or administrators. We should look to retired/current general officer of the military, a businessman with experience in the area, etc.

It seems that this woman has served in exceptional times, but I don't see that she has shown herself to be exceptionally talented.

Hopefully this is just for show.

[caltrop]

I don't have any doubt we'll prevail in the war. My worry is what follows and in that regard my concerns extend well beyond Iraq's borders. The Iraqis, and everyone else, know they can't beat us in a stand up battle. The Vietnamese knew that too, but it didn't matter. In 1917 the British liberated Iraq and found it ungovernable. I suspect we'll find that, in that regard, nothing's changed.

My general feeling is that, even if win without a single casualty and do it in a day, we'll only win the booby prize which will eventually turn into a major mess. I agree with the view that we need a tough, retired Marine or paratrooper who can chew iron and spit nails in charge. Even with that I won't be optimistic about the outcome but at least I'll be confident the bad guys will only test our local leadership once.

[mars32]

You beat me to the punch, I was wondering the same thing.

[flamefront]

She has worked on the secretariat staff of Secretaries Kissinger and Vance

?

And the Asian connections?

Stands for further FR observation.

[thinking]

That will sure upset the Muslins, to have a female in charge of the country....