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By JANE PERLEZ
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
April 21, 2003

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BAGHDAD, April 21 — Jay Garner, the retired American general appointed by the Bush administration to oversee the reconstruction of Iraq, arrived to a muted reception today.

Many Iraqis were unaware he was in their country as he was whisked to war-wrecked institutions in Baghdad — a hospital, a sewage plant and an electrical power station — in a heavily armored caravan protected by American soldiers.

The general spoke of the speed with which he would try to fix things for the Iraqis, but suggested he would be staying longer than he had anticipated when he was appointed three months ago.

"I don't think I would put 90 days as a mark on the wall," he said when he landed at the Baghdad airport shortly after 7 a.m. from his temporary headquarters at Kuwait City. "But we will be here as long as it takes."

For the people of Baghdad, the question of how they are going to get back the living standards they had before the war — basic electricity, water supplies, garbage collection — has become most urgent. By not making too much of a public appearance today, General Garner distanced himself from being the provider of instant solutions.

At Yarmouk hospital, one of the major medical institutions in Iraq, which is now accepting only emergency cases, the general told a meeting of more than 100 professional staff that he would be rebuilding the hospital. The maternity wing of the hospital, empty at the time, was hit by the Americans and remains unusable. Most other hospitals in the city are suffering from dire shortages and lack of staff.

The general also pledged to bring law and order to the city, and get electricity back on. Dr. Haider Fathel Abid, 28, the chief resident doctor, said the general had made many promises.

"I trust in these promises because it is the only hope this country can have," Dr. Abid said.

But in the grounds of the hospital, a Shiite religious leader from Najaf, Sheik Mafouk Shamousy, and his followers who have installed themselves as a security force, showed that reorganizing the facility had quickly become enveloped in politics.

The sheik said that he had been sent by the Shiites of Najaf to make sure that the hospital was kept under "Islamic control."

"We will be keeping an eye on the doctors and nurses, and the control of corruption on the medical side," he said, after General Garner had left.

But Dr. Abid made it clear that the armed Shiites were not welcome.

With electrical power severely limited, about the only Iraqis who could see General Garner were those few in Baghdad who have satellite dishes that could reach international television.

It was a far different entry for the general than the one that had been broadly envisioned in Washington, which hoped before the war that the new civilian administrator, who many see as a modern-day viceroy, would be greeted with obvious warmth.

Several other forces have beaten General Garner to Baghdad, and have wasted no time in letting people know about their presence.

Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi exile favored by the Pentagon for a senior position in an Iraqi administration, has installed himself at a luxurious residence, known as the Hunter's Club. Another Iraqi exile affiliated to Mr. Chalabi, Muhammad Mohsen Zobeidi, has emerged as the self-proclaimed governor of Baghdad, although many Iraqi workers have said they have no idea who he is or who he represents.

In addition, religious Shiites have turned up at public facilities, such as hospitals, and claimed them as their territory.

General Garner is expected to take up residence in the Republican Palace, the main habitat of Saddam Hussein, which was badly damaged by the Americans in the war. But an American soldier on guard at the gate today said that preparations were well under way to make tents and other facilities in the spacious grounds available to the Garner staff.

The Bush administration has planned a four-day campaign-style trip for the general, which seems as much tailored for American television as the Iraqis.

For the next three days he will travel to the northern Kurdish areas of Kirkuk and Mosul, and make appearances here for a fourth day back in Baghdad. The general is not scheduled to visit southern Iraq on this debut tour, where Shia forces are asserting themselves much faster than many American officials expected. The general attended an invitation-only political meeting, organized by the coalition forces, at Nasiriya last week.

Traveling with General Garner today was Ambassador Margaret Tutwiler, a former State Department spokeswoman in the first Bush administration. She was called in last week to burnish the image of the general's operation, and will oversee the effort to portray the work of the general's roughly 500 staff in a positive light.

The general came with about 20 staff members today, and the rest, including about 150 American Iraqis who will help with interpreting and other tasks, will arrive in phases, an American official said.

A British general, Tim Cross, accompanied General Garner today. Also in his party was the former United States ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, who has been assigned a job loosely referred to as "the Mayor of Baghdad."

During the American presence, Ambassador Bodine will be in charge of the central section of Iraq. A northern and southern section have also been established by the Americans for administrative purposes.

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Direct Link:
--http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/21/international/worldspecial/21CND-IRAQ.html

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