Pentagon officials caution Senate panel on Iraq rebuilding

U.S. military successes in Iraq will not necessarily translate to a quick homecoming for American troops, military leaders cautioned members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday.

"Obviously, there's still a great deal of work left to do in Iraq," both in wrapping up fighting and in setting the stage for a new government to replace fallen leader Saddam Hussein, said Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Since we do not know at this moment the exact condition of the country after the termination of hostilities, we do not know exactly what military forces will be required, nor for how long they will be required."

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz offered a similar assessment, telling Armed Services Chairman John Warner, R-Va., that the Pentagon plans "to leave Iraq in the hands of Iraqis as soon as we can." The troops cannot leave when the military victory is achieved, he said, because the move toward self-government in Iraq depends on a secure nation and a working economy.

"If local business people and foreign investors do not feel secure, economic reconstruction will be hindered," Wolfowitz said. "And a secure environment is key to enabling a democratic political process to proceed, so establishing security through law and order is a fundamental necessity."

While the hearing focused on rebuilding Iraq and the pending expansion of NATO, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., urged Wolfowitz, Pace and Gen. James Jones, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe, to look for ways to avoid overuse of National Guard and military reserves.

With U.S. troops already in South Korea, Kosovo, Bosnia and Afghanistan, the deployment of 100,000 U.S. men and women to Iraq and neighboring countries is stretching the capacity of reserves and putting pressure on their employers, he said.

Another committee member, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., asked Wolfowitz if the military effort in Iraq might extend into Syria, which has been accused of providing weapons to Iraq and harboring Iraqi fugitives.

"I would say so far we're just keeping an eye on them," Wolfowitz said.

When Byrd pointedly asked if there was a plan to move troops into Syria, the deputy secretary responded, "Not that I know of, sir."

Wolfowitz told the senators that a U.S.-led Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance would work on the ground until control could be handed off to an Iraqi interim authority. That authority eventually would give way to an independent Iraqi government, but Wolfowitz said the United States would not decide who would run the new government.

In an effort to appease some Democrats who worry that the United States will have to pick up the cost of rebuilding Iraq, just as it had to provide most of the troops for the war, Wolfowitz said the United Nations and such reluctant allies as Germany and France would be welcome and needed partners in the post-war effort.

The United Nations can be especially helpful in mobilizing humanitarian aid and opening the door for financial help from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The goal, he said, is to keep Iraq from becoming "a permanent ward of the international community."

Also on Thursday, three senators announced the introduction of legislation that would compel the U.S. Agency for International Development to disclose details of no-bid contracts it is awarding as part of the rebuilding program in Iraq. The bill would require the agency to announce the cost and purpose of the contract, as well as an explanation about why bids were not sought.

"It would be unfortunate if, in our effort to set an example of open government and democratic principles abroad, we undermined those principles here at home," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. She was joined at a news conference by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Ron Wyden, D-Ore.