15 April 2003
Iraqi People Will Determine Their Own Government, Perle Says
(Perle envisions a free, democratic Iraq based on private enterprise) (670) By Afzal Khan Washington File Special Correspondent Washington -- Richard Perle, an influential voice behind the war against Iraq, said that the people of Iraq, not the United Nations nor any external power such as the United States, will determine the legitimacy of the Iraqi government. At a briefing at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) April 15, Perle added that only the United States and its coalition allies had the right to initially help Iraq establish its democracy. He joked that the next government of Iraq should be forgiven if it did not welcome the French and the Germans who were not there to help free that country from Saddam Hussein. Perle, a resident scholar at AEI, argued that it was not necessary to bring in the United Nations and non-coalition countries to aid Iraq in its recovery. He said Iraq had the resources and that "very little damage" had been done to its infrastructure in the allied bombing. Perle said the goal is the "ignition of the Iraqi economy" that was destroyed by the Ba'athist regime and not the reconstruction of a country in the aftermath of a war. "The key is the growth of the private sector," he said. A role for the United Nations in the reconstruction of Iraq is under discussion within the Bush administration. President Bush has said that coalition forces will oversee affairs in Iraq in the near term, but the United Nations would have a definite role to play at a more distant time in the future. Perle emphasized that the war was fought "for the benefit of the people of Iraq" and that the United States need not apologize for an interim "stewardship" and management of the country until an indigenous democracy takes shape. In the question and answer session that followed, Perle said "significant pressure" would be applied to Syria if Saddam Hussein's leadership took refuge there. He said if a war crimes tribunal for Iraq were set up, Syria and other countries that might be harboring them would be required to hand them over. Perle said the new democratic government envisioned in Iraq should not be required to repay Saddam Hussein's debts owed principally to Russia, France and Germany. He said that because those transactions had been made with a totalitarian regime, the people of Iraq should not be held responsible for them. On the Israeli-Palestinian peace issue, Perle said any resumption of the talks should not be taken to be "a compensation" to the Arab world for the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Thomas Donnelly, AEI's resident fellow for defense and national security, said the quick victory in Iraq is an implicit message to other countries in "the axis of evil", Iran and North Korea, which the United States believes are developing weapons of mass destruction. However, Donnelly cautioned that U.S. technological superiority in the battlefield as demonstrated in Iraq could encourage more countries to acquire nuclear weapons. Donnelly said that U.S. responsibility in the Middle East has increased in the aftermath of the Iraq war because the rest of the world is watching how the United States sets up a democratic government there. He also said that the U.S. military in some form or other would be present in Iraq "for decades." He added that Iraq would not be allowed to build up its own army to any level that could threaten its neighbors again. Joshua Muravchik, another AEI resident scholar, stressed the need for carrying on "a war of ideas" in the Islamic world to address anti-American feelings there. Muravchik recommended resurrecting the defunct U.S. Information Agency (USIA) that dealt effectively with communist propaganda during the Cold War. In a government reorganization that took place in 1999, U.S.I.A. was integrated into the State Department. Muravchik said the diplomatic function of the State Department is at odds with the kind of "ideological warfare" that USIA used to do. (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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