zimv20
Jul 13, 2003, 01:40 AM
link (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030712/wl_mideast_afp/us_iraq_planning_030712203317)
confirming what many already assumed:
Pentagon planners failed to develop detailed plans for postwar Iraq because they were convinced Iraqis would welcome US troops and that a hand-picked exile leader would replace Saddam Hussein and impose order.
Civilian planners at the Pentagon's secretive Office of Special Plans hoped to transform Iraq into an ally of Israel, remove a potential threat to the oil trade in the region and encircle Iran with US friends and allies, the report said.
It also quoted officials describing efforts by that office to sideline and disregard other US government departments' planning for a postwar Iraq.
the Pentagon ignored the "Future of Iraq" project, an eight-month effort by the State Department involving 17 agencies and dozens of exiled Iraqi professionals.
Officials in the Pentagon's Near East/South Asia bureau, which houses the Office of Special Plans, were told to ignore State Department views, according to Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, who retired from the bureau July 1.
confirming what many already assumed:
Pentagon planners failed to develop detailed plans for postwar Iraq because they were convinced Iraqis would welcome US troops and that a hand-picked exile leader would replace Saddam Hussein and impose order.
Civilian planners at the Pentagon's secretive Office of Special Plans hoped to transform Iraq into an ally of Israel, remove a potential threat to the oil trade in the region and encircle Iran with US friends and allies, the report said.
It also quoted officials describing efforts by that office to sideline and disregard other US government departments' planning for a postwar Iraq.
the Pentagon ignored the "Future of Iraq" project, an eight-month effort by the State Department involving 17 agencies and dozens of exiled Iraqi professionals.
Officials in the Pentagon's Near East/South Asia bureau, which houses the Office of Special Plans, were told to ignore State Department views, according to Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Karen Kwiatkowski, who retired from the bureau July 1.
