[casi] Do you want to know who the Americans running Iraq really are?

["AS-ILAS" <AS-ILAS@DELETETHISgmx.de>]

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Andreas

-----------------------

TFF- The Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research

http://www.transnational.org/pressinf/2003/pf183_AmericansInIraqPart1.html


Do you want to know who the Americans running Iraq really are?

PressInfo # 183 - Parts 1-3

 May 14, 2003

By

Jan Oberg, TFF director




They are people with a background in the far-right of the Republican Party,
the Israel lobby, Perle and Wolfowitz henchmen, central to the war on
terror, to the Homeland Defence authorities, to anti-ABM and pro-Ballistic
Missile Defence (Star Wars), close to conservative think tanks, affiliated
with mercenary companies, the military-industrial complex (MIC) and CIA.
They are former "stabilisers" in Bosnia and Kosovo, and Marine Corps-people
(many in Vietnam); they are private consulting firm executives affiliated
with the inner circles of power in Washington. And, of course, several are
associated with the oil industry, the computer industry as well as the media
and public relations industry. With a few exceptions they are Pentagon and
not State Department people, they are generals and technocrats.

Less than a handful have any prior experience in Iraq or in nation-building,
conflict-resolution, reconciliation, post-war trauma healing, civil society
empowerment and other quite relevant matters. In short, they are perfectly
fit to "do" Iraq for the US and totally unsuitable for the Iraqis. They are
not accountable to anyone, except President Bush and Secretary of Defence
Donald Rumsfeld. Their operations and decisions are not transparent to the
world community or any world organisation.

The Bush regime is setting up a basically military administration in Iraq.
The disputes and the infighting are coming out in the open , as reported by
the Washington Post on May 4. General Jay Garner and Ambassador Bremer and a
team of some 300 retired military men, diplomats and functionaries from
numerous US government agencies have been recruited by the Bush regime, and
especially by the Pentagon, to administer postwar Iraq. None of them are
coming to Iraq as a result of democratic processes. They have been appointed
in ambiguous ways to supposedly quick-fix something they call democracy
among 24 million Iraqis. It's the largest nation-building project in modern
times. It is supposed to create an interim government by mid-May.
Why is their presence in Iraq causing so little debate, not to speak of
outrage? There are basically four reasons: 1) because they are Americans and
the US is a country few dare investigate and question; 2) because the
average Iraqi does not know them yet; 3) because the free press does not
bother much about Iraq now that the war drama is over; and 4) because there
was - and is - only an anti-war movement, not a peace movement.

Like in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan, the media flock to the wars, not to
the "peace"-building - like vultures feed on carrion. Unfortunately, it is
now the real battle for Iraq and its future is being fought. Unfortunately,
the millions of war protesters stay home now; they do not seem to be able to
get their acts together in a peace movement in solidarity with the Iraqis
whose resources, education, economy, society and leadership is being
colonised.

No matter what the Amerians tell the Iraqis and the rest of us, they will
run "liberated" Iraq colonial style. Below you will learn a bit more about
each of the centrally placed personalities. You are right if you wonder why
you have not seen an analysis like this, systematic and with documentation,
in your daily newspaper or on television. You are right if you find it
strange that the media have given you much more (mostly unsubstantiated)
information about 55 top Iraqis, tastelessly depicted on a deck of cards.

Only the uninformed and the politically naive, only the opportunists and the
imperialists can believe that this has anything whatsoever to do with
democracy or with doing good to the Iraqi people. They have suffered so
terribly in their double cage, the inner cage under Saddam and the outer
cage of sanctions, war and occupation. Every bit of future humanitarian aid,
of civilian support and American NGO activity in Iraq will serve mainly the
interests of the Bush regime and corporate America, not the needs and hopes
of the Iraqis.
The Guardian could state already on April 1 that there was a secret US plan
to set up 23 ministries, all run by Americans.

"The government will take over Iraq city by city. Areas declared "liberated"
by General Tommy Franks will be transferred to the temporary government
under the overall control of Jay Garner, the former US general appointed to
head a military occupation of Iraq.

Decisions on the government's composition appear to be entirely in US hands,
particularly those of Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy secretary of defence. This
has annoyed Gen Garner, who is officially in charge but who, according to
sources close to the planning of the government has had to accept a number
of controversial Iraqis in advisory roles."

This is how CNN reported the Bush plan to take over Iraq :
The Bush administration has selected a U.S. government official to oversee
each Iraqi ministry that the U.S. plans to keep running after the war, CNN
has learned. Each official will attempt to keep his or her ministry running
with Iraqi civil servants. Some changes will be made, though, the sources
said:
. The Iraqi Ministry of Information, which controls the state-run media,
will be disbanded and restructured with free television, radio and print
elements
. Sensitive ministries such as those overseeing justice and intelligence
will be overhauled
. The Special Republican Guard and Republican Guard are to be disbanded, but
the plan calls for maintaining the regular army and using its manpower
during reconstruction
The plan also calls for the U.S. administration team to run a Ministry of
Religious Affairs that will oversee mosques and other religious activities,
the sources said.

And here are some general overviews of the main personalities, one from The
Guardian , one from the Washington Post and one from National Journal. A
quite comprehensive one has been published by the Sunday Herald . They are
only the beginning. They do not offer the comprehensive background and
necessary links that TFF PressInfo series here does.

This PressInfo series, updated by May 14, will give you much more, with
documentation based on thousands of searches on the Internet. We have used
predominantly Western and American press sources exactly to show that the
materials are available and but need to be put together. You may ask
yourself why it is produced by TFF and not by multi-million dollar research
institutes or leading media of the free press.
Here is a proposal to someone with money, a heart for the Iraqis and an
ability to get into Iraq. Create a new deck of cards with portraits and
descriptions in Arabic of the Americans who are unlawfully running the
independent, sovereign state of Iraq, a UN member. Distribute it all around
Iraq so every Iraq in even the remotest village will have a precise sense of
who his and her new rulers are. And just let them draw their own
conclusions.

The Americans pay the Iraqis with some prestige and money. At the moment,
they promise people US$ 20 a month to work for them. Imagine how attractive
that is in a country where teachers used to have US$ 3-5 a month. The
Americans will undoubtedly get some things going and we can be certain that
the first McDonald and Burger King will soon open in Baghdad. Quite a few
Iraqis may like that what they see. But the basic point is that the freedom
the Iraqis have to reconstruct and develop Iraq against the will of the Bush
regime is not a bit bigger than the freedom they had to do something against
the will of Saddam.

Coalition partner governments and the rest of us belonging to the West
should be deeply concerned - if not ashamed of what is being done to Iraq.
It's the contemporary version of a 300-year old colonial tradition. We seem
to have learnt nothing. May it soon be brought to an end, for instance
through a mass-based, nonviolent uprising all over Iraq that would send the
people you'll meet in these PressInfos running.

By mid-May it was announced that some of the people portrayed below were
"re-assigned," "called back" or simply leaving, among them Jay Garner, the
top man. That the US occupation of Iraq came off as a disaster even before
it really took off is beyond doubt. The Times of London muses that Garner
"surrenders control of Baghdad in a blodless coup in the fastest regime
change in Iraqi history..."



PART II

DONALD RUMSFELD, PAUL WOLFOWITZ & RICHARD PERLE
Secretaries.
Ideologists with their own Special Plans. Masters of a war meaning peace and
other "Newspeak"
With the illegal war on and occupation of Iraq, the first two personalities
need no further introduction. They are Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld
and Deputy Secreary of Defence, Paul Wolfowitz .
Then there one of the leading architects of the whole Iraq imbroglio, "The
Prince of Darkness", Richard Perle of the American Enteprise Institute and
of the Defense Policy Board . It's objective is to "serve the public
interest by providing the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary and Under
Secretary for Policy with independent, informed advice and opinion
concerning major matters of defense policy. Nine members of the Board have
ties to defense contractors . Further, Perle is well-connected to the
international media world through Hollinger Digital Inc., the media
management and investment arm of Hollinger International Inc. whose online
newspapers and holdings include The Daily Telegraph in London and Jerusalem
Post. Perle is also former director of the latter. He is on the board of
Onset Technology , the world's leading provider of message conversion
technology also with close ties to Israeli companies and investment funds.
Here is a more personal interview with Perle about his background and
beliefs. Perle is on the advisory board of JINSA , the Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs. Los Angeles Times recently revealed more about
Perle's combined political and business interests.

There is so much about them on the Internet. The most recent - and best -
related to the Iraq problematic is Seymour Hersh' Selective Intelligence
from The New Yorker of May 2003 . Hersh analyses "the Cabal - a small
cluster of policy advisers and analysts now based in the Pentagon's Office
of Special Plans. In the past year, according to former and present Bush
Administration officials, their operation, which was conceived by Paul
Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has brought about a crucial
change of direction in the American intelligence community. These advisers
and analysts, who began their work in the days after September 11, 2001,
have produced a skein of intelligence reviews that have helped to shape
public opinion and American policy toward Iraq." In addition, it discusses
the pivotal influence of the political philosopher Leo Strauss on the Cabal
and on the director of the Special Plans operation, Abram Shulsky who
happens to be a scholarly expert on Strauss.
You may acquaint yourself with the real policy makers and Iraq pundits in a
more humorous manner in Slate.

 ZALMAY KALILZAD

White House special envoy for both Afghanistan and Iraq
Tremendously important behind the scenes operator
President Bush announced on December 2 the appointment of Dr. Zalmay
Khalilzad as his Special Envoy and Ambassador at Large for Free Iraqis. As
Special Envoy, Dr. Khalilzad will serve as the focal point for contacts and
coordination among Free Iraqis for the United States Government and for
preparations for a post-Saddam Hussein Iraq, White House Press Secretary Ari
Fleischer said in a statement.

"Dr. Khalilzad will continue as the Special Presidential Envoy for
Afghanistan to ensure that the United States' commitment to working in
partnership with the Afghan Government remains firm and resolute. Dr.
Khalilzad also serves as Special Assistant to the President and Senior
Director for Southwest Asia, Near East and North African Affairs, National
Security Council. Dr. Khalilzad will relinquish this position so as to
devote full time to Afghanistan, Free Iraqis, and outreach to the Muslim
community. Dr. Khalilzad will continue to serve as Special Assistant to the
President and Senior Director for these matters," the press secretary's
statement said."

Here follows a presentation of Kalilzad that shows his position in the
Cheney-Rumsfeld-RAND Corporation circles:
"Dr. Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney Transition team for the Department of
Defense and has been a Counselor to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Between 1993 and 1999, Dr. Khalilzad was Director of the Strategy, Doctrine
and Force Structure program for RAND's Project Air Force. While with RAND,
he founded the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Between 1991 and 1992, Dr.
Khalilzad served as Assistant Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Planning. He also served as a senior political scientist at RAND and an
associate professor at the University of California at San Diego in 1989 and
1991. From 1985 to 1989 at the Department of State, Dr. Khalilzad served as
Special Advisor to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs,
advising on the Iran-Iraq War and the Soviet War in Afghanistan. From 1979
to 1989, Dr. Khalilzad was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at
Columbia University. Dr. Khalilzad holds a Ph.D. from the University of
Chicago (1979).

National Journal says that Khalilzad is a charter member of the
neoconservative group that has been pushing for the overthrow of Saddam
Hussein. With Paul Wolfowitz he co-wrote the 1997 Weekly Standard article
"Overthrow Him" that was the rallying cry for the bring-down-Saddam cause
and an early blueprint for the Bush doctrine of pre-emption. As a Pentagon
aide to Wolfowitz during the administration of George H.W. Bush, Khalilzad
was among those pushing for a march to Baghdad during the first Persian Gulf
War. In 1988, in the final months of the Reagan administration, Khalilzad
had urged Secretary of State George Shultz to explore rapprochement with
Iran as a way to counter the growing influence of Iraq. Shultz, with
memories of the Iran-Contra scandal still fresh, rejected the idea, but it
caught on and was pursued with zeal by the Clinton administration.

In The Wall Street Journal, he called for NATO expansion, a go-slow approach
to independence for East Timor, and the arming of rebel forces in Kosovo...

According to CorpWatch , Zalmay Kalalzad has a long-standing experience with
Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and elsewhere, a good understanding
of the region and of the importance of the oil industry:
CorpWatch writes:
"Khalilzad became an American citizen, while serving as a key link between
US imperialism and the Islamic fundamentalist mujahedin fighting the
Soviet-backed regime in Kabul -- the milieu out of which both the Taliban
and bin Laden's Al Qaeda group arose. He was a special advisor to the State
Department during the Reagan administration, lobbying successfully for
accelerated US military aid to the mujahedin, including hand-held Stinger
anti-aircraft missiles which played a key role in the war. He later became
undersecretary of defense in the administration of Bush's father, during the
US war against Iraq, then went to the Rand Corporation, a top US military
think tank.

After Bush was installed as president by a 5-4 vote of the US Supreme Court,
Khalilzad headed the Bush-Cheney transition team for the Defense Department
and advised incoming Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Significantly,
however, he was not named to a subcabinet position, which would have
required Senate confirmation and might have provoked uncomfortable questions
about his role as an oil company advisor in Central Asia and intermediary
with the Taliban. Instead, he was named to the National Security Council,
where no confirmation vote was needed.

At the NSC Khalilzad reports to Condoleeza Rice, the national security
advisor, who also served as an oil company consultant on Central Asia."

Here he gives a Breakfast Interview with David Frost, BBC and here is
another portrait of Kalilzad . He is not a man afraid of making bold
promises way beyond his control. The Anadolu Agency ran this report on March
20:
Khalilzad: War Will Last Short And Nothing Will Happen To Civilians
Anadolu Agency: 3/20/2003
Recalling that the U.S. attack against Iraq started, Khalilzad said that the
war would last short and nothing would happen to civilian people. He added
that they would also exert every kinds of efforts for Iraqi people after the
war."

Here is another example from timesunion.com . When the first meeting of
various Iraqi groups, invited by the US, was held "in the tent" at Ur on
April 15, this is what Associated Press reported Kalilzad to have said:
"The first step toward creating a postwar government took place under a
white-and-gold tent at Ur, the biblical birthplace of the patriarch Abraham
and the cradle of civilization itself.

Participants included Kurds and Sunni and Shiite Arabs from inside Iraq and
others who spent years in exile. U.S. officials invited the groups, which
picked their own representatives.White House envoy Zalmay Khalilzad assured
the delegates that the United States has "no interest, absolutely no
interest, in ruling Iraq.We want you to establish your own democratic system
based on Iraqi traditions and values," Khalilzad said."

 L. PAUL BREMER III

Ambassador, Presidential Envoy and Senior Coalition Official
Ex-Kissinger Associates, hawkish anti-terorist and risk management expert,
adviser to US Homeland Security
On May 1 it was announced that Paul Bremer III had been appointed as
Presidential Envoy to Iraq and Senior Coalition Official to Iraq . This is
how CNN reports the relations between Bremer and the rest:
The man who is currently in charge of overseeing Iraq's rebuilding, retired
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, reports to Franks. But White House officials
say Garner will at some point report to Bremer. The two men will work
together as issues dictate, the sources said.

Bremer will likely focus on political issues, including overseeing the
emergence of a provisional authority in Baghdad, while Garner will be
concerned with restoring services and civil authority, Pentagon and
administration officials said.

The provisional authority essentially is the "face of the U.S. government"
in Iraq, Pentagon sources said.
 This is how ambassadort Bremer is presented by the US National Commission
on Terrorism of which he served as chairman. Paul Bremer III has been
Managing Director of Kissinger Associates. During a 23-year career in the
American diplomatic service, Ambassador Bremer served in Asia, Africa,
Europe and Washington, D.C. He was Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1983
to 1986. From 1986-1989, he served as Ambassador-at-Large for
Counter-Terrorism, where he was responsible for developing and implementing
America's global polices to combat terrorism. Bremer has most recently
served as an adviser to Bush on the Homeland Security Advisory Council . He
also serves as Chief Executive Officer of the Crisis Consulting Practice of
Marsh Inc . a risk management firm. From Republicons.org we can learn that
he shares many views with Perle and Wolfowitz and has staunchly anti-Iran
attitudes.

In this capacity Bremer addressed the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence in June 2000. He said 'Iran is still the most egregious
state-sponsor of terrorism, despite the election of a reformist president.
The Commission is concerned that recent American gestures toward Iran could
be misinterpreted as a weakening of our resolve to counter Iranian
terrorism.'

The New York Times presents Ambassador Bremer in this, not all that
friendly, manner.
But Mr. Bremer's appointment has raised concerns among some human rights
advocates. As chairman of the Congressionally appointed National Commission
on Terrorism in 2000, Mr. Bremer advocated dropping Central Intelligence
Agency guidelines restricting the recruitment of sources with records of
human rights abuses, over the protests of human rights groups. "His
willingness to strike a deal with an abusive figure could be problematic in
Iraq, if he takes a similar approach," said Kenneth Roth, executive director
of Human Rights Watch.

Some Congressional Democrats have also questioned whether Mr. Bremer, a
61-year-old who has not been involved in a major reconstruction project
before, has the proper experience and personality to lead the endeavor in a
country as large and complex as Iraq.

If you want to know about the hawkish views Ambassador Bremer has about
terrorism and the Arab world, see his article on what President Clinton
should do if he was serious about the problem, published in Wall Street
Journal in August 1996. Countries with alleged or documented relations with
terrorism must expect to be smashed. Here is one "if our country gets any
indication of Iranian involvement in terrorism against Americans anywhere,
Iran can expect to receive the full weight of American might. The Joint
Chiefs of Staff are to update target lists within Iran".

Bremer has edited books on the terrorist challenge; here is the report from
the National Commission on Terrorism and he is co-author of a Heritage
Foundation study on Defending the American Homeland (2002).
Ambassador Bremer reports to Donald Rumsfeld , not to Colin Powell. His
deputy will be John Sawers, British ambassador to Cairo, who has been
appointed as Britain's special representative to Iraq.

We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

TOMMY FRANKS
Commander, US Central Commend
The de facto defence minister of Iraq, "Raw country boy and college dropout"
facing allegations. Not a man of many words - or empathy.

Here is the official bio of General Tommy Franks who has led the war and who
entered Baghdad for the first time on April 16. This is what Newsweek wrote
about him : "A college dropout, Franks can seem like a raw country boy. But
he has won his stars - as well as his command of the most powerful military
force in the world - by combining a sharp eye with a strong will."
Unfortunately, during the Iraq war he was unable to express sympathy for the
death of fellow coalition soldiers, Iraqi soldiers or civilians - as a
decent soldier should [Go here and scroll down to Article 34].

As recently as February 2003, Franks faced "several allegations" according
to CNN :
"Sources have told CNN that Franks, the man who would lead U.S. forces in
the event of a military strike on Iraq, faces several allegations --
including one that he allowed his wife, Cathy, to be present during
discussions of highly classified material."

Generally, little is known about Franks' background but he revealed parts of
his personal beliefs to Esquire in 2002 and here is what CBC has about him.
Franks has two deputies, Michael DeLong and John Abizaid .
Point 1 in the US Central Command's strategic goals is formulated here :
Protect, promote and preserve U.S. interests in the Central Region to
include the free flow of energy resources, access to regional states,
freedom of navigation, and maintenance of regional stability.

PETER McPHERSON
Financial coordinator for Iraq
The man chosen to control Iraq's oil revenue, manager of Iraq's central Bank
Former USAID, Deputy Treasury Secretary and, you guessed it, energy
adviser...
Former U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Peter McPherson has been named
financial coordinator for Iraqi reconstruction, Treasury Secretary John Snow
has announced. In an April 25 news release, Snow said that McPherson will
serve as the principal financial and economic policy advisor to Jay Garner,
chief of the U.S. Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance
(ORHA) in Iraq. McPherson's background includes service as administrator of
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) from 1981 to 1987. He
is currently president of Michigan State University. In a separate
announcement, Snow said that Treasury Deputy General Counsel George Wolfe
will serve as the deputy financial coordinator of the Iraq reconstruction
office. The two officials and will work closely with Iraqis to assist in
rebuilding the finance ministry, the central bank and the banking system in
Iraq, Treasury said.

Here is the bio of McPherson . Like most other info on the net it does not
mention that McPherson is also Chair of the Secretary of Energy Avisory
Board for the US Department of Energy . With an expertise in both finance
matters and energy, Pherson must be uniquely competent.

And, so, he is. He is the man centrally placed in the US draft resolution to
the UN. Here is Column Lynch's report for the Washington Post Service of May
9:
Under the system proposed by the administration, the proceeds of Iraq's oil
revenues would be placed in an Iraqi Assistance Fund held by the Central
Bank of Iraq, which is being managed by Peter McPherson, a former deputy
treasury secretary and Bank of America executive.

The United States and its allies would have the sole power to spend the
money on relief, reconstruction and disarmament operations and to pay ''for
other purposes benefiting the people of Iraq.'' The ''funds in the Iraqi
Assistance Fund shall be disbursed at the direction of the [U.S.-led
coalition], in consultation with the Iraqi Interim Authority,'' the
resolution states.

He is a friend of vice-president Cheney, according to the Washington Post .
We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.


PART III

ORHA, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance

L. Paul Bremer and General Jay Garner and a team of some 300 retired
military men, diplomats and functionaries from numerous government agencies
have been "recruited" or "appointed" by the Bush administration and,
especially, by the Pentagon to administer postwar Iraq through the Office of
Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance that comes under Pentagon. Here
are the backgrounds and profiles about some of them. Interestingly, there
are very few questions asked in the free press about this completely
undemocratic, ambiguous method to take over a country and shape its future.

 JAY GARNER
Governor - Co-ordinator

Retired US general, pro-Israel from the defence industry, with a past job in
Northern Iraq, supposed to be the highest authority

Sometimes called the new "viceroy" of Iraq, Retired Lieutenant General Jay
Garner is the man in charge of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian
Assistance .

Here is how the New York Times presents Jay Garner . And here follows a
critical background from The Guardian :
"There is no argument among Arab opinion formers, who with rare unanimity
have been condemning his appointment as another sign of American contempt
for Iraqi feelings,"
"One is the general's work since retiring from the army as president of
defence contractor SY Coleman, now part of a communications-led outfit
called L3. An L3 spokesman insisted that Gen Garner's firm does not make
military hardware but specialises in the guidance systems. In other words,
he is the man who has been trying to make sure the weapons hit the targets
rather than the surrounding civilians. This may be true, but this might
require an over-subtle explanation in the Baghdad souks if Iraqis start to
believe they are being ruled by a man who was just trying to kill them."

And here is a sympathetic portrait of Garner , the DeSoto native who will
lead the transformation of faraway Iraq, from HeraldTribune.com. The Sydney
Morning Herald paints a rather sceptical portrait of Garner from the
perspective of "the critical glare of Arab eyes."

However, here is a thorough documentation of Jay Garner's past and
relations - by human rights people who have set up a whole website
"StopJayGarner.com" . Another, Pacific News Service, provides an analysis
that is also pretty devastating for Garner in his role as future civilian
governor of Iraq.

What we learn from the materials on these sites is that Garner has been
involved with the weapons manufacturing company SY Coleman , with the
Patriot Missile system, and with the Star Wars project. He has been director
of the Provide Comfort Program, the operation that coordinated humanitarian
help in Iraqi's Kurdish territory at the end of Gulf War I. Assigned to that
position by then Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney, Garner oversaw an office
that was created by a U.N. mandate. Now he is appointed by the Pentagon
(Rumsfeld/Wolfowitz) to rebuild and run Iraq.

Garner has been associated with The Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs, JINSA , and participated in its JINSA October 2000 Statement. This
statement is explained by JINSA here. It has remarkable formulations
praising Israel's remarkable restraint and denoucing the Palestinians with
generalising formulations such as, "We are appalled by the Palestinian
political and military leadership that teaches children the mechanics of war
while filling their heads with hate."

Given that Israel is seen as the security problem par excellence by Iraqis,
it will be interesting to see whether General Garner will be able to build
confidence with any Iraqi who knows where his basic loyalties lie.
It will also be interesting to see whether he has a chance to win the hearts
and minds of the Iraqis. Upon his first visit to Baghdad on April 21, BBC
reported :

Iraq's main Shia groups are boycotting talks with Mr Garner

The retired US general sent to lead an interim administration has begun
assessing the damage the war inflicted on Baghdad, where large parts of the
population are still without water or electricity.

Jay Garner flew into Baghdad insisting he was a "facilitator not a ruler",
but opposition appeared to be growing to the invading forces taking a
leading role in the reconstruction.

A Kurdish leader, Jalal Talabani, said he objected to any "foreigner"
leading an administration for Iraq.
Groups representing the majority Shia Muslim population have already said
they will not co-operate with a US administration and are boycotting talks
led by Mr Garner.

In addition, his appointment - and that of all the other people with
military backgrounds - raises the issue of militarised civilian
reconstruction. It has already drawn criticism from many and different
experts, e.g. Sara Kenyon Lischer in the Christian Science Monitor of April
15 and Larry Thompson of Refugees International on Reuters AlertNet April 9,
2003.

Garner, to be sure, has set up ORHA in a 258-room Republican Palace on the
banks of the Tigris River. But he is not going to enjoy that for any long
time. It is expected that he will be replaced by Bremer by mid-May.

JARED L. BATES
Garner's chief of staff

Retired lieutenant general and top guy of US mercenary-consultancy firm,
MPRI
Like many others, Bates served in Vietnam and has had all kinds of military
assignments and received many medals. Here is his relations to MPRI . Here
is a short, critical description of MPRI :
Insiders joke that MPRI has more generals than the Pentagon. This high level
mercenary group has over 1000 elite military and law enforcement leaders on
retainer, including Gen. Ed Soyster, former head of the Defense Intelligence
Agency, Gen. Frederick Kroesen, former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe
and a former Assistant Director of the FBI Many of its employees serve on
the Council of Foreign Relations. The President, Carl Vuono was the Army
Chief of Staff during the invasion of Panama and the Gulf War. He retired
after the war and joined MPRI in 1991. One of his first big jobs was
advising the Croatian government when it split away from Yugoslavia. He is
credited with the victorious military strategy of lightning armor drives
that were used against the Serbs. MPRI is a military consultancy and also
supplies pilots and Special Forces and elite training and security services
worldwide. They recently completed an $800,000 contract to review and advise
the Colombian military. MPRI also runs the US Army's college program, the
ROTC, at over 200 US univesities.
And here is the MPRI website . Garner and Bates worked for subsidiaries of
the same defence contractor , L-3 Communications Systems.
We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

LARRY DiRITA
Top adviser to Garner
Rumsfeld's senior aide in Iraq, US Navy, worked for Republican senators and
the conservative Heritage Foundation

Just below J. Garner, who reports to T. Franks, is a line to Larry DiRita,
who is a special assistant to the defense chief. He is Rumsfeld's senior
aide and a Naval Academy graduate. Larry Di Rita joined the Department of
Defense after serving as Legislative Director, then Chief of Staff, for U.S.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison [R-Texas] from 1996 until 2001. Prior to that,
he served as Policy Director to the 1996 Presidential campaign of U.S.
Senator Phil Gramm. Previously, he served at the Heritage Foundation as
Deputy Director of Foreign Policy and Defense Studies. DiRita is a veteran
of the U.S. Navy. His final tour was on the Joint Staff under General Colin
Powell. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy, and he has a
Master's Degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies.
We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

RON ADAMS
Deputy director of ORHA
Former SFOR commander in Bosnia and Croatia, consultant for many companies
Retired General Adams served in a wide variety of command and staff
positions in Vietnam; Korea; around the Pacific Rim; in the Middle East and
in Europe, including service as Commander of the NATO led thirty-four nation
Stabilization Force, SFOR, in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Although much
of his service was outside the continental United States, General Adams also
served on the Army General Staff, the Army Secretariat and the Joint Staff,
during multiple tours of duty in the Pentagon.

Since leaving active duty, General Adams has worked as a consultant for a
number of large companies and serves on several advisory boards for
non-profit organizations, a private foundation and a public university.
We have not been able to find what companies Ron Adams has served. We have
not been able to find evidence that he has any particular qualifications or
experience in post-war civilian reconstruction, socio-political and economic
development, nation-building or reconciliation.

BARBARA BODINE
Co-ordinator of Central Iraq
A past in Iraq and Kuwait, controversial, an exception by being close to
State Department - and suddenly leaving

To be based in Baghdad. Barbara Bodine , the former US ambassador to Yemen
who served in Baghdad in the 1980s, will look after the central region,
including Baghdad. Ms Bodine was held hostage at the US embassy in Kuwait
during the 1991 Gulf War. She is reportedly one of a group of State
Department Arabists who made it on to the team after the Pentagon rejected a
number of former US ambassadors and diplomats. There seems to have been
quite some controversy about her ways of handling the investigation
following the attack on USS Cole in the Port of Aden which happened in
October 2000 when she was US ambassador to Yemen. Bodine has worked for
former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole and former Republican
secretary of state Henry Kissinger, and served under presidents Ronald
Reagan and George Bush Sr. Here is an official CV . And here is a recent
critical comment about her from the Washington Post.
On May 11 and 12, VOA announced that Brodine has resigned or, rather,
abruptly called back to Washington.

ROGER "BUCK" WALTERS
Co-ordinator of Southern Iraq

Retired general, Texas businessman, with a past, like many others, in
Vietnam
Another retired general and Texas businessman, will oversee the south. He is
one more in the group who has been hand-picked by the Pentagon. This is what
CBC News has to tell about him :
His territory will extend from the borders with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to
just north of Karbala. The team will eventually set up camp in Basra after
the fighting subsides. Walters retired from the army after serving for 32
years. Since then, he has worked for an insurance company in Texas and told
the Washington Times that he plans to be back at his desk job in less than a
year. He told the paper he never considered turning down the job. "I served
my country for 32 years, and I would not like to think about sitting on my
porch having said no.

This is a time of history, and I want to be here," he said.
In 1966, General Walters served in Vietnam in Project Delta and in command
of a Special Forces camp.  Returning to Vietnam in 1969, General Walters
served as a Battalion S3 and later as Deputy G1 in the 101st Airborne
Division.
We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

BRUCE MOORE
Co-ordinator of Northern Iraq

Retired army general with ties to US mercenary-consultancy company MPRI
Retired army major general, Bruce Moore, has been appointed coordinator for
Northern Iraq with his base in Mosul. This is how Fox News presents his
background:
Prior to his appointment to ORHA, Moore served at PAE Government Services,
Inc. as consultant on a joint Department of State and Department of Defense
initiative to solicit the support of the countries of Mauritania, Mali,
Sudan and Chad in the War on Terrorism.

At MPRI, in Alexandria, VA General Moore served from 2000-2001 as a Program
Manager for Military Stabilization Program for Bosnia-Herzegovina, a
multi-million dollar program that assisted the Bosnian Government in
establishing a NATO compatible Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces. Moore
also directed the Nigeria Assessment, an in depth assessment of the actions
required to insure a successful transition from a military government to a
civilian government.

PAE has grown from designing bridges to installing offshore oil platforms to
supplying entire labor forces to maintaining extensive military
installations and bases. And MPRI, Military Professional Resources, Inc. ,
is one of those para-military, private mercenary companies that also, for
instance, "stabilised" Macedonia in 2002.
We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

LEWIS W. LUCKE
Co-ordinator for reconstruction and USAID director of Iraq

Relevant education and broad international experience in development matters
A Senior Foreign Service Officer, Lucke has served for 24 years at the U.S.
Agency for International Development ((USAID) in seven overseas posts. He
served as USAID Mission Director in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from 2000-2001,
where he managed the largest U.S. development program in the Western
Hemisphere. More about him here . He is also the US AID Mission director in
Iraq. He has a degree in international studies, have worked in development
programmes in many countries and is, thus, one of the few whose background,
education and experience may be relevant to the Iraqis.

GEORGE F. WARD
Co-ordinator for humanitarian assistance

Marine Corps and State Department man, experience from Germany unification
and with Kosovo-Albanians
Until George F. Ward, Jr . was appointed to go to Iraq, he directed the US
Institute for Peace's Training Program. He joined the Institute in 1999
after a thirty-year career in the Foreign Service, which concluded with his
appointment as United States ambassador to the Republic of Namibia in
1996-99. In Namibia, he managed a successful humanitarian de-mining program
and initiated a campaign against gender violence. As principal deputy
assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs in
1992-96, he helped formulate United States policy on multilateral
peacekeeping and managed the policy process on United Nations political
questions.

During his assignment as deputy chief of mission in Germany in 1989-92, Ward
played a leading role in the negotiations that led to German unification. He
received the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award for his service in
Germany. During earlier Foreign Service assignments in Germany, Italy, and
Washington, he worked extensively on European security questions. Prior to
his Foreign Service career, Ward was an officer in the United States Marine
Corps, serving in the United States and Vietnam. He holds a B.A. in history
from the University of Rochester and an M.P.A. with a concentration in
systems analysis from Harvard University.
Here is one more who has a background in the Marine Corps, but belongs to
the minority who comes from the State Department and has a relevant
education and working experience. In September 1999, in the aftermath of
NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia, he helped various groups of Kosovo-Albanians
agree on co-operation toward democracy.

TIM CROSS
Deputy to Jay Garner
A British exception with an interest in Christian ethics
On April 14, 2003, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was in Kuwait, where he was
meeting Jay Garner, the US interim administrator for Iraq. As he arrived, Mr
Straw named Major General Tim Cross as the UK's chief representative - one
of three deputies to former US. He has written a paper on Christian ethics
in military decision-making ; in this paper he defines leadership as winning
the hearts and minds of people.
Tim Cross has served in Desert Storm, Bosnia, Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania.

DOUGLAS J FEITH
Pentagon Under-secretary of Defense for Policy, pro-Israel, Perle man,
favours Iraqi-exiles taking over, a security policy hawk for years with
business relations in Israel and defence contracting
Douglas Feith is another staunch "compassionate" conservative, assisting
Garner. Feith, 49, is Under-secretary of Defense for Policy and is putting
together the bureaucratic framework for rebuilding Iraq. This is what the
Post-Gazette of Pittburg has to say about him:

"A policy wonk who cut his teeth in the Reagan administration, Feith hangs
out with a Pentagon faction that has advocated war with Iraq for years and
wants to install exiled Iraqis as the next government. Some in the State
Department worry that an exile-run regime could lead to accusations the
United States is setting up a puppet government.

In some ways Feith is an odd choice for any effort involving an Arab country
because of his strong pro-Israel sympathies and fierce disregard for the
Palestinian Liberation Organization."

Feith was managing attorney of Feith & Zell, P.C. During the Reagan
Administration, Mr. Feith served on the White House National Security
Council staff and in the Department of Defense as Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense for Negotiations Policy and as Special Counsel to Richard Perle,
Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy.

Here is an interview/briefing with Douglas Feith, dated as early as February
21, 2003 in which the role of the civilian coordinators are played up and
Garner's played down.

Well, there is more interesting stuff about Feith. Here are excerpts from a
background article by the Council for a Livable World . Feith was a leader
in the effort to block ratification of the Chemical Weapons Convention which
was negotiated by former President George Bush. He criticized the
Reagan-brokered Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty. Feith has claimed the
ABM treaty is obsolete and has criticized attempts to bring peace to the
Middle East, especially the Oslo Accords. His backward policy positions
extend to non-defense issues: he has objected in print to mothers working
outside the house: "The sources of this anarchism are 30 years of liberal
social policy that have put our children in day care, taken God out of the
schools, taken Mom out of the house, and banished Dad as an authority figure
from the family altogether."
There are other significant Feith statements here .

Here is Feith's business connection :
The Fandz International Law Group was established in 1999 with the formation
of Zell, Goldberg & Co. and its alliance with Feith & Zell, P.C.  Following
the reorganization of Feith & Zell, P.C., precipitated by the appointment of
our colleague Douglas J. Feith as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in
the George W. Bush Administration in 2001, the Fandz International Law Group
now encompasses the strategic alliances between Zell, Goldberg & Co. and its
offices in Moscow (Moiseev, Khalimon & Co.), Washington, D.C. (in
cooperation with Shapiro, Sher & Guinot, P.A) and in Seattle, Washington.

Just browse this website and you will see its connections to Israel
including defence contracting. Zell, Goldberg & Co., the Israeli affiliate
of the FANDZ International Law Group, has quickly established itself as one
of Israel's fastest-growing business-oriented law firms. With offices in Tel
Aviv and Jerusalem, together with affiliated offices in Washington, D.C. and
Moscow, as well as in Europe through the Eurolegal membership, Zell,
Goldberg acts on behalf of a wide spectrum of multinational and domestic
clients with interests in Israel and throughout the world. Zell, Goldberg
provides its clientele with legal support in a broad range of legal
disciplines including international security and anti-terrorism law.

Here in an excerpt from a National Journal article about this rightwing
ideological crusader:
"When the regular intelligence channels, especially in the CIA, were
reporting no links between Iraq and Al Qaeda, Feith assembled his own small
shop of analysts to arm Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with counterpoints
for interagency debates. More recently, Feith has been overseeing the
creation of Garner's team to administer postwar Iraq.

The author goes on mentioning that Feith criticised the first Bush
administration for being soft on Syria; he has worked for Benjamin Netanyahu
but found him too soft on the Palestinians and believed that the Palestinian
authority should be disarmed by force...

Feith is a member ex officio also of the US Institute for Peace. We have not
been able to find evidence that he has any particular qualifications or
experience in post-war civilian reconstruction, socio-political and economic
development, nation-building or reconciliation.

RYAN HENRY
Feith's immediate deputy
Defence intellectual and Vice President of SAIC corporation that is engaged
in re-shaping the media and information system of Iraq

Here is his official bio . Christopher Ryan Henry of Virginia, Deputy Under
Secretary of Defense for Policy. Mr. Henry is currently the Corporate Vice
President for Strategic Assessment and Development at Science Applications
International Corporation (SAIC). Prior to joining SAIC, he was a Senior
Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where
he led the Information-based Warfare initiative and served as Director of
the "Conflict in the Digital Age Project." Henry graduated with merit from
the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated top in his class from the National
Defense University. He also has advanced degrees in Aeronautical Systems
from the University of Florida and in Systems Management and Public Policy
from the University of Southern California.

Here is how Captain Henry thought about Iraq and Operation Desert Fox in
1998 . More importantly, please observe Henry's association with the Science
Applications International Corporation, SAIC . It's a high-technology
research and engineering company based in San Diego, California, SAIC
engineers and scientists work to solve complex technical problems in
national and homeland security, energy, the environment, telecommunications,
health care, transportation and logistics. It's President/CEO makes a
particular point of the fact that SAIC proudly supports all those on the
front lines of our national defense, in the U.S. and abroad.
SAIC Magazine reports on the corporations work for defence, security,
safety, border control technology etc as well as for Homeland Defence, and
holds articles about e.g. Iran capabilities of weapons of mass-destructive
weapons.

SAIC is relevant to our investigation for two other reasons. SAIC employes
members of the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council, IRDC , [see
later under Chosen Iraqis] many of whom are to be part of the temporary
government, holding positions in the more than 20 ministries. IRDC was
established in February 2003. Now, until October 2002, the Vice President of
SAIC, i.e. the person preceding Ryan Henry was David Kay.

We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

DAVID KAY

Not in Iraq, but: Defence intellectual, former IAEA inspector in Iraq,
allegedly involved in intelligence work, former Vice President of SAIC
Corporation that seems to employ exile-Iraqis working in post-Saddam Iraq,
expert in counter-terrorism and homeland defence

Kay was IAEA weapons inspector in Iraq in the early 1990s. He is also former
Vice President of SAIC and coordinator of SAIC's homeland security and
counterterrorism initiatives. He left IAEA in 1992, some sources say he
worked for US intelligence, however his boss at the time, Dr. Hans Blix siad
he left because he had applied for the job of Secretary-General of the
London-based Uranium Institute, a post which Mr. Kay had applied for well
before September 1991, when his name attracted worldwide media attention in
the Baghdad parking lot incident during the sixth IAEA inspection mission in
Iraq," says Dr. Blix . Here is his own views on the spying issue .

Here is his most recent official bio . Again, we meet a defence
intellectual, engaged in homeland security and anti-terrorism. A business
man and who participates in numerous official U.S. government delegations
and government and private advisory commissions, including the US Defence
Science Board where issues such as terror, ballistic missile defence and
psychological warfare is on the agenda.
He is critical of the post-Saddam efforts to find weapons of
mass-destruction. "Unity of command is not present," said Kay, who is now a
senior fellow at the nonprofit Potomac Institute for Policy Studies .
"There's not even unity of effort. ... My impression is this has been a very
low priority so far, and they've put very little effort into it." His views
on issues of Iraqi WMD and the need to remove Saddam - also since he is a
threat to the US itself - is as hawkish as anyone's as can judged from his
statement to the Armed Services Committee of September 2002.

According to one source SAIC also run the "Voice of the New Iraq" , the
radio station established on 15 April 2003 at Umm Qasr that is funded by the
US government. Danna Harman has a telling report about this radio station
and other media matters in the Christian Science Monitor; she maintains that
the station is operated by Robert Reilly. Who is he?

We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

ROBERT REILLY

Manages media in Iraq
Former director of Voice of America, VOA. A "vigorous cold warrior"
Reaganite, associated with the Heritage Foundation, controversial, with a
special view of what media is for...
Here is how Reilly recently explained his media philosophy and the role of
VOA in The Washington Times:
"But delivering the news is not enough. And that is why the VOA was never
envisaged as simply a news organization. We also have the duty to reveal the
character of the American people in such a way that the underlying
principles of American life are revealed. We owe it to our listeners to show
them how free people live &emdash; and to correct the image of the United
States that our own popular culture has sometimes created in their minds, a
false image that has often helped fuel anti-Americanism."

There are reports like this about him: VOA Head: Homosexuality 'Morally
Disordered' - Robert Reilly Served as a Visiting Fellow with the Heritage
Foundation, a Conservative Think Tank. Reilly resigned in late August, 2002,
"to seek opportunities in which I can more directly employ my talents in
helping support the President and this Administration in the war against
international terrorism." In her sympathetic portrait of him, Mona Charen
writes that "Reilly is a brilliant star in the Pantheon of the Unconfused. A
former vigorous cold warrior who served in the Reagan administration, he is
the long-time host of "On the Line," a news program of Worldnet." He seems
to have been asked to resign over the issue of VOA's role vis-a-vis
terrorist states .
The Christian Science Monitor reports that "The station is being set up by
Robert Reilly, a former Voice of America director, and is paid for by the
Pentagon. "We are the voice of the new Iraq. We are the foundation of the
new national station. We would like to create free Iraqi radio and tv
stations and that's where we're heading," says Ahmad al Rikaby, Radio Iraq's
director of news. Prior to this job, he was the London bureau chief at Radio
Free Iraq, a US-funded operation."

We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

MICHAEL MOBBS
Civil co-ordinator for ORHA and senior policy adviser to Douglas Feith

A hawk with old relations to Richard Perle and supporter of the concept of
"enemy combattants"
An international lawyer and recent legal adviser to the Pentagon, Michael
Mobbs is to take charge of 11 of 23 ministries. Michael Mobbs' special
qualities are described here by the Sidney Morning Herald :
"Mr Mobbs's appointment will also be viewed as controversial. He came to
prominence in Washington for his legal arguments to a US court that an
American citizen captured in Afghanistan should be deemed an "enemy
combatant" and denied any legal rights in the US."

During the Reagan administration, Mobbs worked for the US Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency and was close to Richard Perle when he was assistant
Secretary of Defence. From January 1982 until December 1985, Mr. Mobbs
served as the Secretary of Defense Representative to the Strategic Arms
Reduction Talks for Caspar Weinberger and Assistant Secretary Richard Perle.
In December 1985, President Reagan appointed Mr. Mobbs as Assistant Director
(Strategic Programs) of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency,
following Senate confirmation. In that position, Mr. Mobbs dealt with
ballistic missile defense (BMD) research, development and testing matters,
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty issues and intermediate-range nuclear force
negotiations, as well as strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union.

Mobbs later joined a law firm in which Douglas Feith [see below] - now
under-secretary for policy at the Pentagon - was a partner. He was also
author of what has become known as the "Mobbs declaration", a document
presented to the US courts on behalf of the Pentagon claiming that the US
president has wide powers to detain American citizens alleged to be enemy
combatants indefinitely - all according to Brian Whitaker of The Guardian .

Here is how the Washington Post reports Mobbs' role in the Hamdi case:
The government can jail a U.S. citizen captured overseas indefinitely when
the military declares him an "enemy combatant," a federal appeals court said
yesterday, ruling that a Louisiana-born man has been held properly in a Navy
brig without a lawyer or other constitutional rights. To justify its
detention of Hamdi, the government issued a two-page declaration of facts
signed by Defense Department Special Adviser Michael Mobbs.

Says National Journal about Mobbs:
If there is one name behind the Bush administration's controversial
suspension of judicial rights in the war on terrorism, it belongs to Mobbs.
Although Attorney General John D. Ashcroft has been the most vocal defender
of that policy, it was the Defense Department that insisted on a wartime
standard of justice for the 660 men detained at a U.S. base in Cuba and for
two American citizens held incommunicado in the United States. And when the
government needed to justify the detention of one of those men, it issued a
nine-paragraph statement signed by Mobbs, then a legal consultant at the
Pentagon. The declaration did not specify what Yasser Esam Hamdi had
allegedly done. "Due process requires something other than a basic assertion
by someone named Mobbs," said the judge, before rejecting what he called
"The Mobbs Declaration.

We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

PHILLIP CARROLL
Adviser to the Iraqi Oil Ministry

Corporate player in Texas, Cheney-connected, former Shell Oil America and
Fluor, working also in Afghanistan

Presumed to be or become another deputy to Jay Garner. He certainly has
expertise in the petroleum business. But he also has more than a few ties to
the White House , the Sydney Morning Herald reports, and to the companies in
line to profit from the reconstruction mission.
"The former head of Shell Oil's US arm, Peter Carroll, has been tipped as
Garner's advisor to oversee the oil industry, with an Iraqi exile economist
as his number two. While few question Carroll's long expertise in the
industry, having a Texas oilman working with the technocrats from the
nationalised Iraqi oil company will be a challenge.

Carroll was a major corporate player in Texas, serving on the business lobby
group the Greater Houston Partnership, whose members were big energy and
construction firms. Among them was Halliburton, the company run by Vice-
President Dick Cheney. When Carroll left Shell America in 1996 he went to
run the giant energy construction company Fluor until last year. Fluor has
been invited to bid on reconstruction work in Iraq."

On May 4, it was announced that Carroll will head the advisory board to
former Iraqi oil ministry official, Thamir Abbas Ghadhban , who has been
appointed by the US to run the country''s oil industry and used to be
director of planning at the oil ministry before the war. The comment of The
Boston Globe is worth quoting:
With protests continuing in Iraqi streets over American control of the
nation's affairs, US officials strived for a degree of fanfare despite
having little in the way of major news. The officials are trying to include
more Iraqis, even former Ba'ath Party members, in the new government,
although the appointees' actual powers and portfolios remain ill defined.

Both Fluor and Shell have aroused controversy in the past. Fluor is a
Fortune 500 company with a backlog of global contracts totaling $10.6
billion. Along with two other companies, Fluor has contracts for as much as
$100 million from the Army Corps of Engineers for work in Afghanistan.

We have not been able to find evidence that he has any particular
qualifications or experience in post-war civilian reconstruction,
socio-political and economic development, nation-building or reconciliation.

DAN AMSTUTZ
Reconstruction of Iraq's agriculture and/or "financial coordinator" for ORHA
and "principal financial and economic policy adviser" to Garner.

Former government official, with Washington consulting firms, the world's
largest grain exporter, like appointing Saddam to chair a human rights
commission...

This man got a bad start in Iraq. Here is Washington Post's report :
On April 21, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman announced she was
appointing a prominent agribusiness executive to "lead the U.S. government's
agriculture reconstruction efforts in Iraq" and serve as her personal
liaison with American military officials there. Her appointee, Dan Amstutz,
flew to Kuwait, where he detailed his hopes for Iraq in an upbeat
teleconference with reporters last Thursday.

But his new status came as news to the Pentagon-led team in the Iraqi
capital. An official at the Baghdad-based U.S. Office of Reconstruction and
Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) said late last week that Lee Schatz, a USDA
employee, was in charge of the office's agriculture portfolio, and he
referred questions about Amstutz's role to Veneman's department.

Amstutz , one of several former government officials who have set up
Washington consulting firms, will join other government representatives in
the region immediately, Veneman said. He served as undersecretary for
international affairs and commodity programs from 1983 to 1987 and then as
ambassador and chief negotiator for agriculture during the Uruguay Round
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks in 1987-1989. He has
held positions with Cargill; Goldman, Sachs & Co.; the International Wheat
Council and North American Export Grain Association.

Mike Caulton's review of Amstutz in Sydney Morning Herald of this man is
sobering:
Amstutz's "background and experience" is as a senior executive of the
Cargill Corporation, the biggest grain exporter in the world, and president
of the North American Grain Export Association. He is in Baghdad to flog
American wheat, not ours.

"Putting Dan Amstutz in charge of agricultural reconstruction in Iraq is
like putting Saddam Hussein in the chair of a human rights commission," said
Oxfam, the British aid agency this week. "This guy is uniquely well placed
to advance the commercial interests of American grain companies and bust
open the Iraqi market, but singularly ill equipped to lead a reconstruction
effort in a developing country." You get the picture.

Reuters ran this report on Oxfam's blasting of Amstutz' appointment. The
Guardian added that President George W. Bush was on record as saying he
wanted American farmers to feed the world. And a US Undersecretary for Farm
and Foreign Service has made it clear that "Our longer-term objectives
[inIraq] of course are to develop a market-oriented economy, to have a very
vibrant private sector, to have a competitive economy, one that is
market-driven."

Here is what Amstutz said in a recent briefing about the transition to a
market economy :
"Now as far as what I consider the next step, the beginning of this
transition to a market economy, and the revitalization and the restructuring
of Iraq's agriculture, it's of key importance that the leaders of the
ministry of agriculture, the ministry of irrigation, and the ministry of
trade are selected so that we can begin a dialogue with them, and I can tell
you that this is an ongoing process as we talk. Our agriculture guy up
there, Lee Shatz, is working on the ministry of agriculture complement and
others are working on the ministry of irrigation. Some of that,
incidentally, is spearheaded by the Corps of Engineers, and the ministry of
trade is being worked on by State Department people."

Great entreneurship, indeed. As in all statements coming out of US
officials, there is no mention of any consultation with the Iraqis about the
direction the changes should take. The US produced a "restructuring of
Iraq's agricultura" before any Iraqi is "selected." And it doesn't seem to
strike anyone as odd that he is saying just second later:
"That this is Iraq's country, the country is the Iraqis, and we want to
facilitate the development as they view it. I'm hopeful that we'll have
leaders of vision and ambition, that occupy these jobs in these ministries,
and that we'll have exciting planning sessions in the weeks ahead."

Development as the Iraqis see it?

LEE SCHATZ
Reconstruction of Iraq's agriculture

He is deputy director of the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry division of the
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. What he seems
to be most known for is that he was agricultural attache at the US embassy
in Teheran and one of the six in hiding at the Canadian embassy,
"exfiltrated" by CIA in January 1980 . The operational involvement of GAD
officers in the exfiltration from Iran of six US State Department personnel
on 28 January 1980 was a closely held secret until the CIA decided to reveal
it as part of the Agency's 50th anniversary celebrations in 1997.

ROBIN RAPHEL
In charge of Iraq's trade

CIA and USAID background, Iran, Israel, helping the UNOCAL company and
supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan...

Here is her official biography
Robin Lynn Raphel, a career Foreign Service Officer, became United States
Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia in November 1997.

Ambassador Raphel served as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian
Affairs 1993-1997. She began her career as a lecturer in history at Damavand
College in Tehran, Iran. She first worked for the United States Government
as an economic analyst for the CIA from 1973 to 1975. She then moved to
Islamabad, Pakistan where she worked for the U.S. Agency for International
Development as an economic/financial analyst. She then joined the State
Department.

Upon her return to Washington, DC in 1978, Ambassador Raphel worked in the
Office of Investment Affairs in the Economic and Business Bureau; on the
Israel Desk; Staff Aide for the Assistant Secretary for the Near East and
South Asian Affairs Bureau; and as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary
for Political Affairs. In 1984 she was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in
London where she covered Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, and Africa.
She served as Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in
Pretoria (1988-1991), and at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi (1991-1993). In
August 1993, she was named the first Assistant Secretary of State for South
Asian Affairs.

Ambassador Raphel received a B.A. in history and economics from the
University of Washington. She pursued graduate studies in history at
Cambridge University and earned an M.A. in economics from the University of
Maryland. Her foreign languages are French and Urdu.

In this case the references are CIA and USAID coupled with experience from
Iran, Pakistan and Israel. She is currently senior vice president at the
National Defense University in Washington.

The former US State Department official Robin Raphel used to hold meetings
with the Talibans from 1996 to 1998 and then no objection was raised to
their treatment of women and so-called human rights. Journalist Ahmed Rashid
in his Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, has
documented how the US came close to recognising the Taliban; how serving US
officers, including assistant secretary of state Robin Raphel, helped
Unocal; how the oil majors drafted a galaxy of Americans, including Henry
Kissinger, Alexander Haig, former US ambassador Robert Oakley, and Richard
Armitage, currently deputy secretary of state. This is also the viewpoint of
Bin Laden's biographer, Hamid Mir, who has this to say about Mullah

Omar's perception of the US:
"Mullah Omar is convinced that America is not after Osama, they are after
Islam. Omar told me a year back that Osama came to Afghanistan in May 1996,
Taliban captured Kabul in September 1996 and American Assistant Secretary Of
State Mrs. Robin Raphel supported Taliban in November 1996. She was silent
on Osama because America wanted to use Taliban against China and Iran, when
Taliban refused, Americans created the issue of Osama bin laden."

 Official US policy on Afghanistan was best summed up by then US assistant
Secretary of State for South Asia Robin Raphel when, upon the Taliban's
capture of the Afghan capital in the fall of 1996, she "urged all states to
engage with the Taliban and not isolate them." The Progressive Asian writes
that the Taliban has not always been seen as a US enemy and its capture of
power in Afghanistan was seen by US oil interests as "very positive"
(Christoper Taggart, VP of Unocal).  Originally, a policy of "engagement"
was attempted with high level officials such as Robin Raphel holding high
level meetings with the Taliban in Khandahar to smooth the passage for US
oil interests.  These negotiations eventually failed leading to a breakdown
of relations between the Taliban and the US governments. Unocal pushed out
its rival. The deal was: Washington would recognise the Taliban, which would
favour Unocal over Bridas. (The deal fell through - because of instability.)

TIMOTHY CARNEY
In charge of Iraq's industry

Not that popular in Haiti and a role in Phnom Penh, Cambodia 30 years ago
Carney is former US ambassador to Sudan and Haiti and stationed in Phnom
Penh in 1972 and later in Thailand.

Haiti Progrès painted a very negative portrait of Carney in December 1999:
Some also question Carney's ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
In 1972, he became the Political Officer at the Embassy in Phnom Penh,
Cambodia, a post which is usually reserved for the CIA station chief. His
appointment came at the height of the 1970-1975 bombing of Cambodia, when
the U.S. was working feverishly to prop up their puppet, the dictator Lon
Nol. Carney was also the "political officer" in Bangkok, Thailand from
1980-83. In 1992, he was named director of Asian affairs at the National
Security Council, a post usually reserved for those with some intelligence
background. Thus in Haiti, one has to wonder whether Carney wasn't working
with the CIA to undermine Clinton's tactics of advancing U.S. interests.

Carney's tenure in Haiti, which began in January 1997, was not auspicious.
He was reputed to have made deprecating remarks about the country in
private. Even in public statements, he was often less than diplomatic. For
example, in the summer of 1998, when Haitians protested U.S. claims to
Haiti's Ile de Navase (Navassa), a small off-shore island, Carney quipped
that Haitians "have more important things to worry about, such as choosing a
prime minister." Prime Minister Rosny Smarth had resigned in June 1997 and
was not yet replaced due to political wrangling.

Although diplomats are not supposed to opine on the internal affairs of host
countries, Carney often lectured Haitians on their country's political
turmoil.

As adviser to the Haiti Democracy Project, he has stated recently that "The
big question is whether Aristide is going to understand that he has no
future," said Timothy Carney, a former U.S. ambassador to Haiti. "Without
massive reform, Haiti is once again headed for kind of chaos that has
intermittently dogged its history."
On the website of Benador Associates, a PR and media bureau that is prides
itself of having some of the most hawkish American people as experts, Carney
writes about how the Clinton administration missed an opportunity to catch
Bin Laden when the Sudanese government opened a window of opportunity. Here
is a VOA report , a Washington Post story and an ArabReview report on that.

The New York Times, citing unidentified administration officials, reported
on May 12 that Carney may soon leave .

DAVID J. DUNFORD
Holds the foreign affairs portfolio in Iraq

Experienced diplomat with assignments in the region, involved in Middle
Eastern Bank, political scientist and businessman with defence and other
industries

Here is a biography from his university . Adjunct lecturer at the University
of Arizona's Dept of Political Science, retired from the U.S. Foreign
Service in June of 1995 following completion of his assignment as Ambassador
to the Sultanate of Oman. He has served also in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
Ambassador Dunford teaches courses on the Arab-Israeli Conflict,
Globalization and Global Governance, and the Business Environment in the
Middle East and North Africa.During 1997-98, he was Coordinator of the
Transition Team for the establishment of the Bank for Economic Cooperation
and Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENABANK).

He also does some international business consulting. Consulting clients
include or have included two major U.S. oil companies, two major U.S.
defense contractors, a major U.S. telecommunications company, a well-known
policy research institution and a Wisconsin university. Again, a connection
to business and defence contractors.

Ambassador Dunford views on the world and the role of the US - quite
balanced compared with most of his American colleagues, can be found at the
High Desert Forum . He seems rather critical of Ariel Sharon and, to some
extent, also of President Bush and appears to be aware of some historical
root causes underlying terrorism. However, he is extremely concerned about
the oil...
"He then went on to stress the importance of appreciating the role of oil
supplies to understand the politics related to the Middle East.  In this
regard he also addressed the events of September 11th and what it meant to
US interests and counter-terrorism measures...At the same time he noted that
if there were ever an alliance between oil producing nations in central Asia
and the Middle East it could create a serious situation for the United
States... Even if we capture Osama bin Laden, Dunford said many challenges
would remain.  In his opinion two of the main problems came from ignorance
about this area of the world and the importance of oil.

The New York Times, citing unidentified administration officials, reported
on May 12 that Dunford may soon leave .

 WALTER B. SLOCOMBE
Oversees the Iraqi defence industry, armed forces and related matters

>From Pentagon with hawkish views, Star War enthusiast, Wolfowitz "Democratic
hawk" and in favour of attacking Iraq...

Walter B. Slocombe is a former Under Secretary of Defense (Policy). Her is
an official biography ; Walter B. Slocombe was nominated by President
Clinton on 13 July 1994 to be undersecretary of defense for policy and was
confirmed by the Senate on 14 September 1994. Prior to this appointment, he
served as principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy since 1 June
1993. Pending his confirmation, he had been a consultant to the Office of
the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 21 January 1993. From 1986 to
1993, Mr Slocombe served as a consultant to RAND and the Strategic Air
Command Technical Advisory Committee, as a member of the advisory panel for
the Office of Technology Assessment studies of strategic command and
control, and as chairman of its study of the defense industrial base. He was
a member of the advisory councils of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International
Affairs at Princeton University, the National Security Archive, the Center
for Naval Analyses Strategy and Forces Division, MIT?s Lincoln National
Laboratory, and the Center for National Security Studies at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory. Mr Slocombe was also on the board of directors of the
United States Committee for the International Institute for Strategic
Studies. From January 1981 until he joined the Clinton administration, he
was a member of the Washington, D.C., law firm of Caplin and Drysdale. He
had previously served as deputy undersecretary of defense for policy
planning from November 1979 to January 1981 and as principal deputy
assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs from
January 1977 to November 1979. In both positions, he served concurrently as
director of the Department of Defense?s SALT Task Force. From 1970 to 1971,
he was a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic
Studies in London. In 1969 and 1970, Mr Slocombe was a member of the Program
Analysis Office of the National Security Council staff, working on strategic
arms control, long-term security policy planning, and intelligence issues.

Here is the bio at the website of Caplin and Drysdale Attorneys .
It is easy to see that he has been engaged inalmost all the right-wing,
hawkish institution related to security affairs. It xomes as no surprise
that he is a staunch supporter of the Ballistic Missile Defence against the
rogue nation threat. He is Slocombe's views about Iraq and the justification
for attacking it :
"Central problem that Iraq presents to the world is Saddam Hussein's
contiuing campaign to develop chemical., biological and nuclear weapons and
means of delivering them ever more effectively and over longer ranges.

These program are unequivocal violations of Iraq's obligations under
international law, and in particular of any number of UN Security Council
resolutions.  Their continuation is the justification for use of military
force against Saddam Hussein and his WMD programs if he continues to refuse
to abide by UN mandates ..."
And here are his remarks before the Senate on Iraq .

Washington Post writes that Walter B. Slocombe, who held Feith's job [see
above] in the Clinton administration, will oversee the transition of the
Iraqi defense ministry. Although a Democrat, he has maintained good
relations with Wolfowitz and is described by some as a "Democratic hawk."

MARGARET TUTWEILER
In charge of communication

But did not seem to communicate...
Here is Margaret Tutweiler's official bio . During President George H.W.
Bush's Administration Ms. Tutwiler served as Assistant Secretary of State
for Public Affairs and State Department Spokesman from 1989 to 1992, later
ambassador to Morocco. She was supposed to be in charge of communications,
but repeatedly refused to meet the media in Baghdad. Tutweiler left by
mid-May.

CLINT WILLIAMSON
Senior adviser to the Ministry of Justice

High-level past in the Hague Tribunal, staunchly biased against Serbia, also
former director of Justice in Kosovo. Helped the US by declaring that the
Croatian offensive was a minor incident...
Clint Williamson is a National Security Council staff member assigned to the
Justice Ministry. He has served seven years at the International War Crimes
Tribunal, ICTY, in The Hague and is former director of the Department of
Justice, UNMIK, Kosovo.

The Observer of July 1, 2001, writes that "In January 1999 as a hurricane of
violence swept across Kosovo, the West - after eight bloody years of Balkan
wars - finally decided that Milosevic should face its wrath. In The Hague,
Paterson - a key tribunal lawyer - and colleague Clint Williamson were put
in charge of harvesting evidence against him."

Willimason, in his role as Deputy Chief Prosecutor of ICTY, advanced his
view in 1996 that Yugoslavia (FRY) was a "criminal state." One analysis, by
TFF Associate Michel Chossudovsky, describes Williamson's role in ICTY in
this manner:
"Several Tribunal officials including American Lawyer Clint Williamson
sought to discredit the Canadian Peacekeeping officers' testimony who
witnessed the Krajina massacres in 1995. Williamson, who described the
shelling of Knin as a "minor incident," said that the Pentagon had told him
that Knin was a legitimate military target... The [Tribunal's] review
concluded by voting not to include the shelling of Knin in any indictment, a
conclusion that stunned and angered many at the tribunal".."

That Pentagon was involved in the Croatian Army's Operations Flash and Storm
is a public secret. Incidentally, it happened at the time when Peter
Galbraith was US Ambassador to Croatia. Galbraith was recently seen in
Baghdad; he is professor of National Security Studies at the National War
College.

Dr Galbraith serves on the board of Indict, the human rights group supported
by the Iraqi exile movement in London. Their work has been used extensively
by the US President, George Bush, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair,
and John Howard, to make the case against Saddam. He is also on the Advisory
Board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq .

Ambassador Galbraith uncovered and documented Saddam Hussein's genocidal
campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980's, leading to sanctions
legislation against Iraq and later contributing to the decision to create a
safe-haven for the Kurds.

Williamson intends is considering the establishment of a court system in
Iraq to try those responsible for crimes against the Iraqi people. "In all
probability we will see some sort of special chamber set up within the Iraqi
system composed of Iraqi judges using Iraqi prosecutors who will handle
this," said Clint Williamson, the office's adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of
Justice. "But it will be a special chamber, not just going into the normal
criminal courts." Why a special chamber if it is to be run by Iraqis?

JAMES WOOLSEY
Mentioned in relation to the Iraqi Ministry of Information

Former CIA director, believes we are approaching World War IV, Israel lobby,
well-connected hawk,
Here is what Time wrote on April 6:
"Two weeks ago Powell sent Rumsfeld a list of prominent Americans who could
help the hand-off from the military to the interim authority, but most were
rejected as woolly-headed by the Defense Department. Instead, Rumsfeld
nominated a notably more hard-line group, including a former CIA director,
James Woolsey, to be Minister of Information."

David Corn of The Nation comments :
"On April 2, Woolsey made headlines by telling students at UCLA that the
Iraq war was part of "World War IV." Speaking at a teach-in sponsored by
campus Republicans and Americans for Victory Over Terrorism, a
pro-war-in-Iraq group founded by William Bennett, Woolsey remarked, "This
fourth world war, I think, will last considerably longer than either World
Wars I or II did for us. Hopefully not the full four-plus decades of the
Cold War." He cited three enemies: the religious leaders of Iran, the
"fascists" of Syria and Iraq, and Islamic extremists like Osama bin Laden
and al Qaeda."

And what's next? Ken Lay to head up the new Iraqi energy ministry? Trent
Lott, the cultural ministry? Richard Perle, the new Iraqi ambassador to the
United Nations?"
"A postwar job for Woolsey the Would-be Conqueror would be unnecessarily
provocative. During the occupation, the United States should conduct itself
with humility and sensitivity (especially since it seems, once again, to be
shoving the United Nations aside). These are not qualities for which the
Pentagon is renowned. To many within Iraq and elsewhere, the message
conveyed by any Woolsey appointment will be, Washington has sent the CIA to
take over Iraq. So why do it? Does Woolsey alone possess the needed skill
set? (Which American will be in charge of the new Iraqi intelligence
agency?) But credit the Pentagon with loyalty, for it appears to be sticking
with one of the most prominent cheerleaders for war in Iraq (and perhaps
beyond) and standing by a grand tradition of war. To the victor go the
spoils. In this case, no matter how ridiculous or counterproductive that may
be."

Woolsey serves on the advisory board of the JINSA, Jewish Institute for
National Security Affairs with which Jay Garner is also associated and on
the Defense Policy Board . Furthermore, writes Zvi Bar'el of Ha'aretz on
April 10, 2003:
Woolsey is an enthusiastic supporter of Chalabi, and a loyal follower of
Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz. He was a member of the committee that
was established in 1998 by Congress to examine the strategic threat against
the United States. The committee included Wolfowitz and Jay Garner, who will
be the governor general of Iraq. The committee was headed by Rumsfeld, and
already then he indicated the axis of evil, composed of Iran, Iraq and North
Korea.

Woolsey has another good "quality." He is the vice president for security
consultation with a U.S. consulting firm that in 2002 held contracts with
the U.S. administration worth about $700 million. He is also a member of the
consulting committee of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, headed by
Bruce Jackson, former vice president of Lockheed Martin, one of the giant
defense contractors in the United States.
The recruitment for Iraq indeed takes place within small and narrow
circles...

His CV from National Commission on Terrorism tells that he is a partner at
the law firm of Shea & Gardner . More of Woolsey's worldview from a 2003
lecture at Yale here . We have not been able to find evidence that he has
any particular qualifications or experience in post-war civilian
reconstruction, socio-political and economic development, nation-building or
reconciliation.


 Copyright TFF 2003




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