http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57781-2003Feb11.html
excerpts: Pressed for an idea of how long a military occupation would last before Iraqis could take back the government of their country, his colleague from the State Department, Marc Grossman, said he would guess "two years." But the two officials, at a hearing called to discuss the future of Iraq, said they did not know how the United States would manage the Iraqi oil industry, who would cover the costs of reconstruction if oil installations are damaged in the invasion or how they would install a democratic government. "There are enormous uncertainties," added Feith. "The most you can do in planning is develop concepts... That's our problem. We have been thinking this through as precisely as we can, given the uncertainties." Some of the senators expressed incredulity at the state of the Bush administration's planning and several said they regretted Senate approval last year of military action. "There is no informed consent. The American people have no notion of what we are about to undertake. They believe it will be swift and successful and largely bloodless," said Joseph Biden of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the committee. The Republican chairman of the committee, Richard Lugar of Indiana, also faulted the administration for its belated and incomplete planning. "Oil will not go away until you make clear how you will manage the oilfields. It needs to be finalized urgently," he added. ... Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, a former commander of U.S. Central Command, told the same hearing that any Iraqi government favorable to Israel would not last long. "By changing the government in Iraq, you don't change the attitude on these (Arab-Israeli) issues. No one could succeed in governance by having this pro-American, pro-Israeli ... approach in this environment today," he said. ** ABC News's coverage of this meeting stated that an office for planning the postwar handling of Iraq was established within the Department of Defence three weeks ago. (I suspect this is more to do with the handling of civilian affairs. I'm sure that regional strategic planning is much more developed. Pretty sure.) Marvin Long Austin, Texas Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Poindexter & Ashcroft, LLP (Formerly the USA) http://www.breakyourchains.org/john_poindexter.htm _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
