UN-appointed administrator could oversee running of Iraq

2.30pm

A civilian administrator appointed by the United Nations could be installed to oversee the running of Iraq in the aftermath of a military operation to oust President Saddam Hussein, according to the latest US plan.

While the proposals call for a heavy military presence led by a senior US general for at least 18 months after any invasion, the Bush administration has apparently accepted the need to establish democratic institutions inside Iraq as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, planners envisage a civilian administrator working alongside, and with equal authority to, the military commander.

"The last thing we need is someone walking around with a corncob pipe telling the Iraqis how to form a government," said one senior Bush administration official, in a reference to the imposition of General Douglas MacArthur in post-war Japan.

The classified plans currently being finalised by the White House and the national security council also emphasise the limited use of courts to try only those Iraqis who held senior positions in President Saddam's regime.

An effort would be made to keep and reform many elements of the government rather than scrapping them entirely.

These elements of the government would help the civilian administrator oversee the running of schools, the public health infrastructure and the economy.

The civilian administrator would also have responsibility for ensuring Iraq's oil continues to flow.

The plans are the product of a series of working groups set up by the US State Department's near-east division to prepare for the reorganisation of Iraq under the title of the "Future of Iraq Project".

This has led to the establishment of more than 15 working groups looking at issues ranging from a transitional justice system, energy supplies and public health to public finance.

Last November, The Independent revealed the US was secretly training Iraqi civil servants to prepare for the transformation of Iraq into a market economy.

"We have to consider the administration of Iraq from the very day after any military operation," said a State Department spokesman.

The disclosure in the New York Times of America's plan to install a civilian administrator appears to be part of a White House effort to convince skeptics that it is not planning an invasion of Iraq purely for selfish, oil-driven reasons.

But it also represents the genuine views of those within the administration who believe a military operation could lead to the establishment of real democracy, not just within Iraq but in neighbouring Arab countries.

That does not mean that the safeguarding of Iraq's vast oil supplies -- known to total at least 112 billion barrels - will not be a prime objective, both of invading forces and the administration that would follow.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said last week: "If coalition forces go into those oilfields we would want to protect those fields and make sure they are used to benefit the people of Iraq and are not destroyed or damaged by a falling regime on the way out the door." After lengthy debate, the Bush administration has decided against establishing a transitional government in advance of a possible invasion.

Given the inability of Iraqi exiles to agree among themselves about even the most basic elements of a post-Saddam administration, the Bush government may simply be putting off a tough decision.

Entifadh Qanbar, Washington director of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), the London-based opposition group that would likely play a key role in any future administration, said there was agreement of the need to establish democracy.

"What Iraq lacks is democracy and democratic institutions that will create democracy," he said.

"We don't need nation building.

Iraq is already a nation."

- INDEPENDENT


Herald feature: Iraq