• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

19 March 2003

U.S. Seeks Quick Return of Iraq to Its People

(New government will be defined by Iraqis, U.S. official says) (720)
By Edmund F. Scherr
Washington File Special Correspondent 
Washington -- A senior State Department official has emphasized that
in a post-conflict Iraq, the United States wants to "return Iraq as
quickly as possible to the Iraqi people."
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman
emphasized that the United States seeks an Iraq that is democratic,
unified, multi-ethnic and has its territorial integrity.
"This Iraq will have no weapons of mass destruction, and will be at
peace with its neighbors," he said.
He said that "as quickly as possible," the United States would like to
begin economic and political reconstruction, "putting Iraq back
together on a road to prosperity and freedom."
Grossman made the comments March 19 at a briefing for journalists at
the Foreign Press Center in Washington. He discussed humanitarian
assistance, reconstruction and the formation of an Iraqi government
chosen by the Iraqi people.
He told questioners that Iraqi democracy will have to be defined by
the Iraqi people. "That democracy is not an American democracy," he
said. "It will be an Iraqi democracy."
Grossman pointed out that there are democracies around the world that
are multi-ethnic and have territorial integrity.
"If the Iraqi people have the chance...to run their own lives," he
said, a lot of the ethnic tensions in that country will dissipate. He
noted that the current regime exploits those tensions.
Democracy in Iraq, he stressed, "would be a powerful example" for the
peoples of the region.
He told a questioner that he hoped that recognition of the state of
Israel would be among the first acts of a new Iraqi government.
"People ought to have a chance to run their own lives," he continued.
And that right should not be excluded because of geography, race,
religion or culture, he said.
The ambassador repeated the President Bush's words that the United
States seeks to liberate Iraq, and neither occupy it nor use Iraq's
economic resources. He emphasized again the U.S. position that Iraq's
oil belongs to the Iraqi people. The official said the disposition of
the oil is for the Iraqi people to decide.
The United States, he said, cannot predict the war damage in Iraq or
what Saddam Hussein will do to his own country, but "we have made a
huge effort" in our planning "to minimize the impact on the civilian
population."
In his television speech on March 17, President Bush told the Iraqi
people that as the coalition of nations confronts the rule of Saddam
Hussein and tears down the apparatus of terror, "we will help you to
build a new Iraq that is prosperous and free."
The president added that the Iraqi people are deserving and capable of
human liberty. "And when the dictator has departed, they can set an
example to all the Middle East of a vital and peaceful and
self-governing nation," Bush said.
Grossman said that locating, securing and destroying weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq "will be an urgent priority" in the conflict and
post-conflict period. But also the United States will be focused on
humanitarian issues, getting food and medicine to people who need it,
he added.
The United States, Grossman continued, has been working for many
months on plans to assist in a post-conflict Iraq and has humanitarian
supplies at hand or in the pipeline. He said working-groups have
focused on such issues of health, sanitation, education and
transportation, the rule law, agriculture and banking system. He said
the United States looks forward to working with the United Nations and
private organizations on these relief efforts.
The ambassador outlined three post-conflict stages in a liberated
Iraq. They are:
-- a stabilization period under the authority of the coalition's
military commander would be responsible for security in Iraq.
-- then a rapid transition in which authority is progressively given
to Iraqis. "Here the Iraqi interim authority would play an important
role," he said. He noted the interim authority would include Iraqis
from inside and outside the country.
-- and finally a transformation "to move Iraq as quickly as possible
back to where it belongs to a sovereignty of the Iraqi people."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)