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Perle woolsey exile iraqi leaders { April 4 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24990-2003Apr4.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24990-2003Apr4.html
Role for Exile Leaders Urged
Rumsfeld Proposes Interim Authority In Southern Iraq
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 4, 2003; Page A23
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has proposed to President Bush that an interim Iraqi authority composed of exile leaders be quickly installed in the southern part of the country now largely under U.S. control.
In memos distributed this week to Bush's war cabinet, Rumsfeld suggested that the declaration of an interim governing authority would deflect international criticism that the United States plans to exert sole control over Iraq for an indefinite period.
The proposals are likely to increase the temperature of an already heated debate within the administration over the reconstruction and governance of post-war Iraq. Plans drawn up in the Pentagon to impose a civil administration made up of Americans and reporting to Gen. Tommy R. Franks, head of the U.S. Central Command, have been challenged by State Department officials who would prefer a more central administrative role by the United Nations.
There are also disagreements over how much power to give exile leaders, who have a powerful constituency among the Pentagon's civilian leadership.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other European leaders want the United Nations to supervise the reconstruction of Iraq and the creation of a representative interim government from within the country. A strong U.N. role, they believe, would give the process more legitimacy in the Arab world and help bring together an international community divided over the war.
Bush has yet to commit himself on the issue, and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said in a news conference in Brussels yesterday that the administration is "still examining the proper role for the United Nations."
The administration's internal dispute over postwar arrangements has festered as plans to move a U.S. administrative team into the country have been delayed by unexpectedly strong Iraqi resistance to the military invasion. As U.S. troops approached the outskirts of Baghdad yesterday, administration officials said they were devising plans to declare victory once the military balance has definitively tipped, even if Hussein and his lieutenants remain at large and the fighting continues.
Rumsfeld's proposal was first reported last night by U.S. News & World Report on its Web site. The magazine said Rumsfeld sent two memos to Bush calling for the United States to "support those Iraqis who share the president's objectives for a free Iraq" and arguing that Iraqi and Kurdish expatriates, with some experience of democracy, are better equipped to take over the country than Iraqis living under Hussein.
Sources confirmed that the memos probably would be discussed in the next day or two by Bush, Vice President Cheney, Rumsfeld, Powell and CIA Director George J. Tenet. But they cautioned that the ideas expressed by Rumsfeld were more in the form of suggestions than fixed plans. The sources said Rumsfeld had not specified how authority would be divided between the exile leaders and the U.S. postwar administration.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the memos, saying, "We have nothing for you on that."
Even if there were agreement on the advisability of a U.S.-installed interim Iraqi authority, its composition probably would be disputed. The Pentagon's civilian leadership and other prominent hawks close to the administration have long supported Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress.
Chalabi is particularly close to former CIA director R. James Woolsey, whom Rumsfeld has proposed for a prominent position in postwar Iraq, and Richard Perle, a key Pentagon adviser. He is also backed by a group of influential Republican senators, including Sam Brownback of Kansas, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Jon Kyl and John McCain of Arizona and Norm Coleman of Minnesota, who this week wrote a letter to Bush asking him to clear "roadblocks within the State Department" for increased funding of Chalabi's group.
In public comments last month, Perle suggested that installing Chalabi in power in Baghdad would alleviate any Muslim fears of U.S. imperialist aims. It would also improve the chances for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Perle said, because "Chalabi and his people have confirmed that they want a real peace process, and that they would recognize the state of Israel."
But Chalabi, who left Iraq in the late 1950s, is a controversial figure both in Washington and among exile groups. He is distrusted by officials at the State Department and CIA, who have questioned his claims of support inside Iraq.
Despite U.S. discouragement, Chalabi began advocating a provisional Iraqi government, formed by exile groups, months ago. Although he represents only one of six opposition groups that have uneasily banded together under U.S. auspices, he has made no secret of his desire to head such a government. He moved from his London headquarters to the Kurdish-administered territory in Northern Iraq before the war started and has since issued a flood of international communiques that imply he already has a leadership role.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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