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TOPICS
U.S. plans to fund civilian government in post-war Iraq
U.S. plans for postwar Iraq include keeping Iraq's civilian government bureaucracy running with U.S. funding - and using the country's military to rebuild critical infrastructure like roads and bridges.
U.S. officials would turn over the reins to an Iraqi interim government within months, officials said Tuesday at a Pentagon news conference - given on condition they not be named. One senior official said he expects Iraq's oil industry to continue to be overseen by the U.N. officials who run the current oil-for-food program.
Postwar planning officials said the United States would keep most of Iraq's bureaucracy intact, at least at the beginning - so that schools, hospitals, police and water systems would continue to operate. The United States would pay the salaries of Iraqi government officials and the operating budgets of those ministries during the transition, the officials said.
The United States plans to hire more than 100 Iraq expatriates living in Western democratic countries to act as advisers and liaisons with the current Iraqi ministries for up to six months, the officials added.
In the skies over Iraq Tuesday, Iraq threatened U.S. surveillance flights - forcing two American U-2 reconnaissance flights to return to base. Multiple flights are permitted under a U.N. Security Council resolution approved last November, and the Bush administration is seeking clarification from U.N. inspectors, said a senior official. The official stopped short of saying the Iraqis threatened to shoot down the aircraft.
COMMENTS
- I read the story in disbelief!!! Putting our servicemen in harm's way, in order to liberate the Iraqi people from the vicious dictator (a job that the should have been done by the Iraqis themselves), is already a supreme sacrifice and far beyond what our country should be expected to endure. Why, then, are we even considering funding Iraq's civil service, but especially at a time when our own economy is faultering and our government is running huge deficits? Therefore, it is my view that, not only should Iraq's oil pay for their goverment operations, but a portion of revenue from their oil sales should be set aside to repay to the U.S. for the incurred cost associated with the liberation campaign. Jurgis Paliulionis Posted March 12, 2003 7:09 PM
