15 April 2003
Coalition Civil Affairs Team Meets Free Iraqis in An Nasiriyah
(Defense Department report, April 15: Operations in Iraq) (830) By David Anthony Denny Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- A civil administration team composed of coalition country members met with free Iraqis April 15 in An Nasiriyah, Iraq, to begin to discuss the process of handing over authority to the Iraqi people, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon press briefing the same day. "It is noteworthy," Rumsfeld said, "that even before the coalition's civil administration team has arrived in Baghdad, they are meeting with free Iraqis to discuss handing over authority to the Iraqi people. It underscores our intention to give responsibility for governance of that country to Iraqis as quickly as is possible," he said. The team will be deployed in Baghdad "once conditions on the ground permit," he said. Coalition members envision an Iraqi interim authority that would have two main tasks, Rumsfeld said: first, it could give Iraqis an immediate administrative role in running some ministries of government; and second, it could "take responsibility for laying the foundations of a new Iraqi government" -- including a draft constitution, legal and economic reform, electoral reform, and guarantees for individual rights. "[B]uilding a free Iraq is the right -- indeed the responsibility -- of the Iraqi people," Rumsfeld said. The interim authority is conceived of as a stepping stone in that process. It will be a temporary structure, large and inclusive, welcoming all Iraqis who agree that a new Iraq should not threaten its neighbors, should not have or make weapons of mass destruction, should not support terrorists, and should guarantee the rights of ethnic and religious groups, political freedom, individual liberty and the rule of law, he said. That process will not involve the Ba'ath Party, Rumsfeld said. That party "does not fit the conditions that I've described," he said. Rumsfeld also said that coalition forces control Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit and that they now would focus on the few remaining smaller cities and towns that had been bypassed "to deal with any regime forces that may remain." "We'll continue these efforts until Saddam Hussein's regime has been removed from every corner of Iraq," he said. Baghdad hospitals have a heavy load, Rumsfeld said, but Jordan said it will send a field hospital to the Baghdad area this week, and the United Arab Emirates announced it is receiving Iraqis who need medical attention. Medical supplies were flown into Baghdad on April 12 for the Red Cross to distribute, he noted. Air Force General and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers, who briefed the press with Rumsfeld, added that two additional hospitals in north-central Baghdad have opened since April 13, and the Red Cross has opened up a 1,200-bed hospital. Rumsfeld reminded the press that hospitals, schools and mosques were used by the regime as military command and storage facilities, and as headquarters for the Ba'ath Party. "[T]here was a lot of damage done to hospitals and schools and mosques as a result of that decision on their part," he said. Other points made in the briefing: -- An Iraq-Syria oil pipeline was shut down, not destroyed. -- Operation Northern Watch, the northern no-fly zone, has been ended, with some assets redeployed. -- Rumsfeld said there is nothing he can report on the condition or whereabouts of Captain Scott Speicher, a POW in Iraq since 1991. -- The effort to make the U.S. military lighter, faster and more agile is part of a military self-improvement effort that has been ongoing for some time and will continue, Rumsfeld said. -- No Scud missiles have been found yet in western Iraq, but the area is vast and there are only a handful of U.S. special operations forces in the region, who have been engaged in fighting. As the fighting dies down, Rumsfeld said, there will be occasion to look for Scuds. -- Turkish liaison officers are now in Kirkuk and Mosul, alongside U.S. forces, to monitor the situation there, Rumsfeld said. The arrangement seems to be working well, he said, and Kirkuk is calm, with Mosul less calm but still very stable. -- Rumsfeld refused to concede that the looting of the Baghdad museum of antiquities signified a failure of the coalition war plan. He said he has talked with President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell and the United States is in the process of offering rewards for the return of stolen items or for information concerning their whereabouts. And he suspects that many missing items will be found to have been hidden prior to the conflict. -- Without question, some regime leaders will escape Iraq, Rumsfeld said. Some will be found, and some countries will cooperate in finding them, he said, while others will not. -- One of the lessons learned in this war was the efficacy of fighting jointly, Rumsfeld said. The joint and combined effort "was a force multiplier," he 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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