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'Nucleus' Of Iraqi Leaders Emerges
By Carol Morello Washington Post Staff Writer washingtonpost.com Tuesday, May 6, 2003; Page A01
BASRA, Iraq, May 5 -- Retired Lt. Gen. Jay M. Garner, the head civil administrator in U.S.-occupied Iraq, said today that the "nucleus" of an interim Iraqi government is emerging and its form should be clear by the end of May, which he called "a make-or-break month." Garner said he expected the transitional government to have eight or nine Iraqi leaders, who would effectively become the heads of a committee that would govern Iraq under U.S. tutelage for a number of months until a new political system and government can be organized to replace the Baath Party rule of fallen president Saddam Hussein. Garner named five figures likely to be part of the committee, all Kurdish or exile leaders who have long been backed and financed by the United States. But he said he expected that L. Paul Bremer III, a former diplomat who is scheduled to arrive later this week to become overall occupation chief, would be more involved in the efforts to create a political process, suggesting the current lineup could change. Garner made his comments as he embarked on his first visit to Basra, Iraq's second-largest city with 1.3 million people, since he arrived in the country two weeks ago, after Hussein's government was defeated by U.S.-led forces. Aides said the trip was the beginning of a series of public appearances intended to raise his visibility. Garner has been criticized for being inaccessible to ordinary Iraqis, who have no government other than U.S. occupation authorities to turn to with their problems. Garner briefly visited several sites here accompanied by Ole Wohlers Olsen, the Danish ambassador to Syria who has just been named a regional coordinator in southeastern Iraq for the Pentagon's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance. Officials said Olsen speaks 10 languages, including Arabic, and is a convert to Islam. Olsen said he expects to be in Basra for about 10 months, as part of Denmark's contribution to the U.S.-led alliance setting out to rebuild and reform postwar Iraq. Henri Olesen, the Danish representative to the U.S. occupation authority, said the pace of reconstruction needs to quicken. "I don't think we can lose the peace," he said. "Saddam's gone. But we can lose the confidence of people. If we don't get services up and running, they'll lose faith in us." A U.S. official told reporters in Washington, meanwhile, that American forces in Baghdad had taken custody of Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, a U.S.-educated microbiologist called "Mrs. Anthrax," for what the Bush administration says was her role in a biological weapons program under Hussein. The U.S.-backed anti-Hussein figures who have emerged as likely leaders of the interim Iraqi authority, Garner said, are Ahmed Chalabi of the Iraqi National Congress, Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, Abdul Aziz Hakim of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Ayad Alawi of the Iraqi National Accord. Two of the five are Kurds whose militias have ruled a U.S.-protected autonomous zone in northeastern Iraq for the last decade. The others are returned exiles who were outside the country during Hussein's rule. To varying degrees, their opposition to Hussein was financed and encouraged by the State Department, Pentagon and CIA. But Garner said they could be joined on the governing committee by other Iraqis, suggesting a desire to include people who remained in Iraq through Hussein's years in power. "I'm shooting in the dark," he said. "You might see as many as seven, eight or nine working together to provide leadership within a larger national congress to design a constitution." Later in the day, Garner expanded on his comments. "Five opposition leaders have begun having meetings and are going to bring in leaders from the inside of Iraq and see if that can't form a nucleus of leadership as we enter into June," he said. "Next week, or by the second weekend in May, you'll see the beginning of a nucleus of a temporary Iraqi government, a government with an Iraqi face on it that is totally dealing with the coalition." He said the objective is to get all public services functioning, or on the verge of functioning, during the "key four weeks" of May. Iraqis have complained loudly that the U.S. occupation has been too slow to get essential services running again and to impose order on the chaotic postwar landscape. In particular, they have criticized U.S. forces for doing too little to stop the widespread looting that erupted immediately after the defeat of Hussein's government and has continued sporadically since. Garner acknowledged that there is much lawlessness, attributing it to "a lack of government, armed gangs running around, criminals who Saddam Hussein let out of prison after the war and to a degree the emergence of fundamentalists who are Iranian-based." That was an apparent reference to Shiite Muslim militant groups, whose leaders have sought to assert power in a country where 60 percent of the 24 million people are Shiite. "They go in, take over a school or a hospital and throw out the doctors or nurses," Garner said. Garner said the United States had prepared for a postwar scenario with burning oil fields, floods of refugees and massive destruction. None of that happened to the degree envisioned. "We didn't anticipate the looting to occur to the degree it did," he added. "I personally anticipated a huge number of soldiers surrendering. I was going to hire 100,000 Iraqi soldiers to reconstruct Iraq. They either died or evaporated. The operation didn't unfold as planned. We're making readjustments." He said he saw no humanitarian crisis on the horizon. Iraqis' complaints, he said, reflected their conditioning under the old government. "You've got Iraqi people who have been in a dark room for 35 years," he said. "We opened the door and let the light in. It takes a while to get your eyes calibrated to the light." Garner also said Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi, the self-styled governor of Baghdad who was detained by U.S. forces a week ago, had been released 48 hours after he was taken away. He said "certain conditions" had been imposed on Zubaidi, but would not elaborate. "He was confiscating private property, stealing cars, having people abused," Garner said. "He was appointing people without authority. I'll worry about him if he reappears. He's off my screen." Garner praised the progress made in Basra so far. "From what we see, everything's going the right way," he said. But at the 500-bed Basra General Hospital, doctors told of a lack of security and a shortage of supplies. "We have no drugs," said Alaa Hussein Farhan, a plastic surgeon, as Garner met with the hospital director. "We have no antibiotics. We have no anesthesia. There is a crisis of gastroenteritis, because of the bad water in homes. We see more than 70 cases every day. We have no security in town. People are stealing, killing and robbing. One week ago, gunmen came here to the hospital. British forces got them out. But what next? I am afraid to walk in the street. Anyone can kill me or take my money." Asked what he wanted to tell Garner, Farhan said: "I want to tell him there is no security inside the city, and all the people of Basra are afraid. For how long will this continue?" As Garner left the director's office, an Iraqi man trailed him, carrying a small boy about 5 years old with both legs in casts. Blood seeped from the foot of one cast as the man tried to attract Garner's attention. Garner, surrounded by bodyguards and aides, shook hands with the director and, without appearing to notice the man, left to visit an oil refinery. More unhappy employees stood watching Garner at the Shaiba Oil Refinery, the country's second largest. Manager Taha Ibrahim said the refinery is now taking in 70,000 barrels a day from nearby oil fields to convert to diesel fuel, kerosene, gasoline and cooking gas. That is about half its capacity. "We need spare parts," said Emad Ehtlan, a mechanical engineer. "We need inspection equipment. We need cars, cranes and forklifts." Garner, looking tired, took no more questions, but delivered a short statement. "We had a good visit here," he said. "It gave us a clear understanding of what needs to be done, and further assured us [that] technocrats in Iraqi industry are fully capable of doing what they have to do as long as we provide them with the tools and all."
Direct Link: --http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17929-2003May5.html
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