Defense, USDA take contrasting views on Iraq agriculture advisers

There appeared to be considerable confusion within the Bush administration Wednesday over the role of agriculture advisers in Iraq.

In late April, the U.S. and Australian governments announced that Dan Amstutz, a former Agriculture Department official, and Trevor Flugge, former head of the Australian Wheat Board, would be "co-senior advisors" to the Iraqi agriculture ministry.

The appointments were of keen interest to wheat farmers in both the United States and Australia because Australia had been selling wheat to Iraq in recent years, and U.S. farmers have wanted to compete for the Iraqi market.

Oxfam International, a British-based antipoverty group, criticized the appointments because both men had backgrounds as grain traders, not agricultural development specialists.

Shortly after their appointments, Amstutz and Flugge met in Kuwait for discussions. Flugge continued on to Iraq, but Amstutz returned to the United States, saying U.S. officials urged him to wait until the security situation improved.

A May 28 United Press International report on various U.S. advisers to Iraqi government ministers listed Flugge as "the senior adviser" to the Iraqi Ministry of Agriculture and did not mention Amstutz or Lee Schatz, a senior USDA Foreign Agriculture Service officer who has been in Iraq since shortly after the war ended.

Asked Wednesday about the UPI report, Chris Isleib, a Defense Department spokesman, said he checked with the U.S. command in Baghdad and was told, "Flugge is the senior adviser. Schatz was the interim senior adviser and now works with Flugge."

Officials in Baghdad, Isleib said, had described Amstutz' role as "supra-ministerial" and added, "It is best left to the Department of Agriculture to characterize Amstutz' role."

In contrast, Alisa Harrison, a spokeswoman for Agriculture Secretary Veneman, said that Amstutz and Flugge have the same rank and that they have been talking on a daily basis.

Amstutz, in a telephone interview from his office in northern Virginia, confirmed that he and Flugge have the same rank, but said he has had only "exchanged a couple of e-mails" with Flugge since their meeting in Kuwait.

Amstutz said that he has not spoken with Schatz "in some time," because telephone communications with Iraq are difficult, but that he does see e-mail traffic between Schatz and USDA. Amstutz also said he is still waiting for USDA to provide him an office.

Amstutz said that he and Flugge had agreed at their meeting in Kuwait that neither of them would stay in the country, but that they would travel back and forth in order to secure resources for Iraq from their own governments.

Amstutz said he is still waiting to get security clearance to go to Iraq, but is hoping to travel there within two weeks. Asked why Flugge could travel to Iraq when he did not, Amstutz said, "If you are a non-American it is easier to get into Iraq."

Amstutz said that U.S. officials in Iraq had told him that they would allow a limited number of Americans to enter the country at one time.

The Web site for AusAID, an Australian aid agency, said that Flugge and a "team" of Australian agriculture advisers had arrived in Baghdad on May 21. Amstutz said he believed Flugge left Iraq, but may have visited a second time with Australian officials. The Australian Embassy did not return a call asking if Flugge is in Iraq at the present time.

Meanwhile, U.S. wheat leaders have noted that Australian Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said on April 3 that the Australian government and the AWB were working to ensure that Australia's position in the Iraqi wheat market was maintained.

U.S. Wheat Associates President Alan Tracy said in a statement late Wednesday: "We find it unacceptable that [Agriculture] Secretary Veneman's designated representative has not been welcomed by the military command in Iraq. We are not prepared to accept Australian decision making on wheat buying processes for the Iraqi people."