24 April 2003
Garner Says Ministries in Liberated Iraq Could Re-Open Soon
(April 24 press conference in Baghdad with coordinator Jay Garner) (600) By Christine Johnson Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- Government ministries in liberated Iraq may begin to re-open in early May, Jay Garner, director of the U.S. Defense Department's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, said April 24. Garner, who is overseeing reconstruction efforts in Iraq on behalf of the international coalition, told reporters at a press conference in Baghdad that when Iraqis themselves are ready to accept government management and leadership responsibilities, "we'll turn it over to them." He said "there's no calendar on that; some will go fast, some will take a little longer." Asked how long it will take to complete his mission in Iraq, Garner said "we'll do it as fast as we can, and I think it will go faster than people think." Garner said his team had just discussed the situation with about 30 local doctors, lawyers, and educators. Garner emphasized that the United States is not bringing in people to run Iraq, and that reconstruction efforts are international. "[W]e're trying to internationalize the teams that will work with these ministries ... nobody is going to run those ministries other than the Iraqis themselves. I think we need to be absolutely clear about that," he said. Appearing with Garner were two other members of the coalition reconstruction team, Brigadier General Carl Strock of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and British Major General Tim Cross. Strock explained what was happening in Iraq's oil fields. He confirmed that oil has started flowing from wells in the south, and that about 175,000 barrels are being pumped to the refinery at Basra and to electric power plants nearby. "This is strictly for domestic use, for Iraqi internal needs," Strock said, "it is not for export." He said he anticipated that an additional 60,000 barrels of oil would begin flowing in a day or two from wells in the north to the Baiji refinery, "for the same purposes," that is, for Iraq's domestic consumption only. Strock added that a natural gas well has been re-started in the north to supply the turbines that produce most of the electricity for Baghdad and the area surrounding the capital. A reporter asked if the United States had a plan to retrieve the artworks that were stolen from Baghdad museums during the looting that followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime. Major General Cross replied that he did not know all the details but that various experts are interested in helping and that "people are keeping an eye open for any of these artifacts that appear in any of the art galleries around the world." He also noted that one of the museum directors is convinced that quite a few of the pieces remain in Baghdad. During Garner's visit to Kirkuk in northern Iraq earlier in the week, he spoke about what had been accomplished there by the Kurdish population. At the press conference in Baghdad, he clarified his remarks for the record. "What I said is that in the 12 years since we provided security up there and liberating that part of the northern provinces, that the Kurds had done a magnificent job of bringing in a viable economy, of having a democratic process up there. ... And I said what they've done there could stand as a model for the rest of Iraq ... they can help by using what they did in assisting the rest of Iraq into the democratic process." (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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