02 August 2002
Senate Holds Hearings on Reconstruction of Post-Saddam Iraq
(Consensus that international support for U.S. efforts is critical) (1120) By Ghada Elnajjar Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- "It would be a tragedy if we removed a tyrant in Iraq, only to leave chaos in his wake. The long-suffering Iraqi people need to know a regime change would benefit them. So do Iraq's neighbors," said Senator Joseph Biden, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in his opening statement at two days of committee hearings on Iraq. On July 31, independent experts shared their views on the nature of the threat posed by the current Iraqi regime and possible responses. The August 1 panel of speakers focused on examining the breadth of U.S. obligations after the regime of Saddam Hussein is no longer in power. "We need a better understanding of what it would take to secure Iraq and rebuild it economically and politically," Biden said. A former military strategist, retired Col. Scott Feil, stressed the need for the United States to reinforce its commitment to the stability and security of the region. In a post-Saddam Iraq, Feil recommended that the Iraqi security apparatus be removed. During the transitional period, Feil recommended that a U.S. security force of 75,000 personnel be placed in Iraq to patrol and protect large cities, borders with Iran and Syria, the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and the oil fields. In addition, 4,000 international police monitors should join these forces. Feil estimated the total cost of this security proposal could reach $16 billion. Feil also stressed that post-conflict reconstruction requires international cooperation and involvement. "The international community should begin now in planning and assigning roles and key tasks," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Program of the Association of the United States Army Sinan Al-Shabibi, consultant to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, examined the international cooperation that would be necessary to re-build and strengthen Iraq's economy in the short and long terms. According to Al-Shabibi, the post-Saddam Iraq must be allowed to sell oil to the market at the maximum oil production level without decreasing oil prices. This is possible only with cooperation from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), he said. To decrease Iraq's payment deficit incurred as a result of the sanctions and war reparation payments, Al-Shabibi recommended that the international community grant Iraq debt relief and lift the reparation payments. Phebe Marr, former professor at the National Defense University, focused her testimony on the general political and social picture of Iraq. "If the U.S. embarks on [regime change], it needs to be prepared to fulfill its responsibilities, and see it through to an acceptable outcome, including a potential long-term military and political commitment to assure a stable and more democratic government," said Marr. "If U.S. involvement is not at the level discussed, then we better have Arab presence," she said, referring to the role of Arab allies to assist in building a new Iraq. Marr also discussed the geographic divisions along ethnic and religious lines in Iraq. She told the Committee that an ideal leadership for a future Iraq is one that would ease those ethnic and religious divisions. "The identity that must be encouraged is Iraqi," Marr stated. "Once the regime of Saddam Hussein is removed from power, there will be a historic opportunity to remake Iraq...But this requires a commitment from the United States and the international community to a process of nation-building in Iraq. The commitment should not be of a purely military nature -- it is just as important civilian, institutional, and economic, but it must be sustained," stated Rend Francke, executive director of Iraq Foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization working since 1991 for democracy and human rights in Iraq. Senator Biden raised concerns about justifying to the American public the enormous costs of nation-building. He also reminded the testifying experts that the American public might have reservations about direct involvement, fearing a repetition of the U.S. intervention in Somalia in the early 1990s. In response to Biden's concerns, Francke said, "We have no choice but to do it and do it right. Iraq is central to U.S. interests in the region, and it cannot continue to live in the middle ages." The Bush administration believes only regime change in Iraq can check the threat Iraq poses. However, President Bush and his principal advisors have repeatedly stressed that no decision has been made as to how to effect this change. No administration official was called to testify at the committee hearings, but State Department Director of Policy Planning Richard Haass welcomed the current hearings during a July 30 interview on National Public Radio. "It is perfectly appropriate that there is a public interest and public debate (on Iraq)," he said. "The question of whether regime change should be our policy and, if it is, how the United States should go about it are natural. Indeed, it would be odd if Congress was not having a hearing on something of this import." Biden said that this is only the beginning of the debate and that more hearings will be held. Most senators and Congressmen planned to return to their home states shortly after the hearings concluded for their traditional August recess, and an opportunity to seek out the opinions of their constituents on this and a broad range of domestic and international issues. "We have to explain to the American people what we have to do. We must gain the informed consent of the American people," Biden said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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