Turf
War Rages in Washington Over
Who Will Rule Iraq
By Rupert
Cornwell
05 April 2003
The Bush administration was scrambling to finalise an interim government
for post-war Iraq yesterday, amid a turf war pitting the Pentagon and
the Vice-President's office against the State Department and Congress
in Washington.
The battle concerns not only
the American officials who will supervise the new ministries, but the
role of exiled Iraqi leaders and the extent of United Nations involvement.
Above all, it is a struggle between Colin Powell's State Department
and the Pentagon of Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary, and his
deputy Paul Wolfowitz, supported by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President.
With victory in Iraq in sight,
the names of the Americans who will supervise new ministries to replace
the existing 23in the crumbling regime of Saddam Hussein are still far
from certain. Last week the Pentagon vetoed a State Department list
of eight nominees, but whether the rejection is final is not clear.
In Kuwait, a group of potential
US "ministers" is waiting to learn if it will be working under
Jay Garner, a retired American general designated head of non-military
operations in immediate post-war Iraq. These officials include former
US ambassadors to Arab countries such as Barbara Bodine, a former envoy
to Yemen, and Timothy Carney, who served in Sudan and Robert Reilly,
a former director of the Voice of America radio station. A number of
British officials are said to be working with them
Mr Reilly is said to be working
with Iraqi exiles on broadcasting arrangements in the future Iraq. But
other possible "ministers-in-waiting" have been marooned in
Washington by the disputes between the Pentagon and the State Department.
A candidate to run the Information
Ministry at least in the eyes of the Pentagon faction
is James Woolsey, a former CIA director in the Clinton administration
and among the earliest and most vocal advocates of force to topple President
Saddam.
Mr Woolsey is also a strong
supporter of Ahmed Chalabi, the most high profile of the Iraqi opposition
leaders in exile, for an important role in post-war Iraq. But in recent
days a new front in the Washington bureaucratic war has opened up over
Mr Chalabi.
Mr Rumsfeld, in an attempt
to outmanoeuvre the State Department, which is deeply suspicious of
Mr Chalabi, sent memos to President George Bush urging that an interim
government led by exile leaders be set up in coalition- controlled southern
Iraq, irrespective of what happened in Baghdad. Mr Rumsfeld's move is
likely to meet powerful objections from the State Department, which
doubts Mr Chalabi has much support inside a country he left as a child
of 11 in 1956.
But the move spotlights the
deep uncertainty over which Iraqis should be involved in the ministries,
and the balance between exiles and civil servants who held senior positions
under the Saddam regime.
The quarrelling in Washington
is also an increasing concern to neutral Iraqi figures, who see it not
only as a distraction from the task of rebuilding, but as a sign that,
for all the assurances to the contrary, Washington does indeed have
neo-colonialist designs.
On Thursday, Congress entered
the fray on General Powell's side, when the Senate and House of Representatives
insisted the State Department should have full control of the $2.5bn
(£1.6bn) reconstruction money contained in the $80bn emergency
war spending bill due to be sent to Mr Bush for signature next week.
A Senate bill explicitly forbids the $2.5bn being used "for any
Department of Defence activity".
General Powell said this
week that "coalition members" primarily the US
would perforce take early charge in Iraq. But he has sounded much more
open than the Pentagon to greater UN involvement later on.
Ultimately the wrangling
will probably have to be resolved by Mr Bush. His decisions will shape
foreign perceptions of US intentions in Iraq. They will also determine
whether foreign policy is conducted by the State Department or its traditional
rival department across the Potomac river.
The contenders fighting for
control
Paul Wolfowitz The deputy
secretary of defence, and leading neo-conservative in the Bush administration,
who for a decade has advocated forcible regime changein Iraq.
Barbara Bodine A former US
ambassador to Yemen when the USS Cole was attacked in October 2000.
She refused to allow the controversial top FBI anti-terrorist investigator
John O'Neil into the country.
Timothy Carney US ambassador
to Sudan from August 1995 to November 1997, and closely involved in
unsuccessful American efforts to apprehend Osama bin Laden, then living
in Sudan.
James Woolsey A former Rhodes
Scholar at Oxford and senior US arms control negotiator. Director of
the CIA from 1993 to 1995 in the Clinton administration and a long-time
hawk on Iraq.
Jay Garner Retired US army
general, close to the Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. Helped direct
Operation Provide Comfort to Iraqi Kurds in 1991. He will head the interim
administration of Iraq.
The article first appeared
on The
Independent