19 May 2004
State, Defense Departments Cooperating Closely on Iraq Transition
Assuring security seen as a major challenge in transition period
By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- A senior State Department official, Frank Ricciardone, and a senior Defense Department official, Mick Kicklighter, say both departments are cooperating closely to prepare for the transition of sovereignty in Iraq June 30.
At a briefing at the U.S Institute of Peace in Washington May 19, the two officials provided details about conversion of the Coalition Provisional Authority into a U.S. diplomatic mission.
Ricciardone said the size of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq will be smaller than has been reported in the press.
"I kept seeing in the media reports from unnamed administration officials, ‘this will be our largest American embassy in the world. It'll be 3,000 people. It'll be this. It'll be that.' The fact is the number we're anticipating of Americans permanently assigned desks in the embassy is oscillating somewhere under 1,000," Ricciardone said.
The State Department official said the number of Iraqi employees at the embassy will be around 700. He added that the number of American employees at the embassy will decline and the number of Iraqi employees will rise as time passes and the situation in Iraq becomes more normal. Nevertheless, the U.S. embassy in Baghdad will be one of the largest U.S. diplomatic installations in the world, similar in size to the U.S. embassies in Cairo, Egypt, and Bogota, Colombia, Ricciardone said. The embassy will be housed at the outset in one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces, but a new chancery will be built in several years, he said.
The United States will maintain a diplomatic presence in the Iraqi provinces, but it will be less visible than the Coalition Provisional Authority, which will cease to exist when sovereignty is restored, according to Ricciardone.
"We intend to have Americans working outside of Baghdad in the provincial areas, much as CPA has done, but quite frankly with a lesser footprint," Ricciardone said. "We are not the colonial administrators of this country. We are there as guests, as a supportive good friend." He added that the U.S. commitment to support the transition of Iraq is not lessening in any way. He said the Iraqi people must understand the firmness of the U.S. commitment to the future of the country.
Ricciardone said the biggest challenge in the diplomatic transition will be assuring the security of the embassy personnel. He said the number of diplomatic security personnel is insufficient to meet the challenge, so private contractors will be hired.
Ricciardone said the military forces in Iraq will be under the command of General John Abizaid, the chief of the U.S. Central Command, and the civilian diplomatic staff will be under the authority of Ambassador John Negroponte.
Kicklighter, a retired army general serving as the director of the Defense Department's Iraq Transition Team, said the process of converting an occupation authority into a diplomatic presence is complicated by the continuing conflict. But he said the State and Defense Departments are approaching the problem in an integrated manner.
"Anyone who has served in the military knows that one of the most difficult operations you ever have to perform is the changing of an organization -- withdrawal of an organization -- in combat. That's exactly what we're embarking on, changing the Coalition Provisional Authority into a U.S. mission," Kicklighter said.
The retired general said one of the first priorities from the military perspective is the acceleration of training and equipping the Iraqi security forces.
"One of the first teams we sent out was a team to look at the security forces of Iraq to determine how well or what we might do to accelerate the training, equipping and preparing all the security forces including the police and the military forces, the border patrol, the installation protective service and the civil defense forces," Kicklighter said.
Kicklighter said the U.S. transition authorities have put a great deal of work into making sure that the 27 ministries of the Iraqi interim government are able to function effectively.
"We've had about 400 advisers helping the staffs and ministers prepare for their missions come July 1. We have canvassed the new ministers who are coming into those jobs. Some of those ministers are up and running on their own already. I think 11 have already been graduated and two more will be graduated this week," Kicklighter said.
After the restoration of sovereignty, Kicklighter said, the United States will continue to provide some form of assistance to 26 of the 27 ministries of the Iraqi interim government.
Kicklighter said of the $18 billion that the United States has designated for Iraqi reconstruction, $10 billion will have been committed by July 1. He said the State Department will assume responsibility for assigning contracts for the remaining $8 billion after the embassy opens.
Kicklighter said he hopes that the international community decides to play a greater role in the reconstruction of Iraq after July 1. He said France, Germany and many other countries will have ambassadors in Baghdad where they will gain a first hand understanding of Iraq's needs. He said he hopes those envoys will urge their governments to contribute to the reconstruction of the country.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
This page printed from: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2004&m=May&x=20040519181759cpataruK0.6187555&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html
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