Posted on 04/20/2003 8:20:35 AM PDT by GeneD
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior U.S. lawmaker said on Sunday the United States had underestimated the first phase of what he envisaged could be a four to five-year effort to rebuild Iraq after American-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime.
The United States had not planned the post-war transition as carefully as the military campaign that removed Saddam from power, said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"They started very late," Lugar said of U.S. efforts to restore political stability to Iraq.
The power vacuum left by the end of Saddam's rule had hurt many in Iraq, he said.
"A gap has occurred and that has brought some considerable suffering," he said. Among those rushing in to fill the void are clerics and religious groups, he added.
Lugar called on the Bush administration to give clear estimates of the duration and cost of U.S. involvement in post-war Iraq.
"I simply say it is not clear to the Congress or the American people what the cost of this will be, what the budgetary aspects are, how the currency, how the banking system, how international trade, how any of this works, and clearly a commitment for the longevity required," Lugar said.
He said the political transition to a democracy in Iraq could take between four to five years.
"I would think at least we ought to be thinking of a period of five years of time. That may understate it," he said.
Pro-American Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi called on Sunday for U.S. forces to remain in Iraq until the country holds elections, a process he said could take two years.
Chalabi played down the significance of reports of assertions of power by religious groups in some cities.
"I do not think this should be read as anyone trying to set up an authority or to challenge whatever emerges from the process of an interim authority," he said during an interview on ABC television's "This Week."
(With additional reporting by Chuck Abbott in Washington)
Once an individual is elected to either the Senate or House they become experts on everything. No matter what their background prior to their election, they now are experts on science, economics, the military, morality, math, ecology, sociology and any other subject likely to come up when there is a camera near.
For example, Representative Shela Jackson Lee does not have any academic background in astronomy or rocket science, but is an expert on our trip to Mars.
He's just shooting his mouth off...............he's a damn sad sack of the man he was when he first went to washington.
He's "my senator", along with evan bayh..they both have that smart ass smirk on their face as they perpetually lie too you. I doubt they even know the real truth anymore.
Let every person (men, women, teenagers) in Iraq vote on freedom issues -- right away -- on simple individual rights such as women voting, gun ownership, the right to own property, the implementation of a justice system dedicated to protecting those rights, etc ... with the intent being the permanent preservation of those rights voted on.
Getting women and teenagers to vote will present problems, so having men and women vote on separate days would help; also ...
Restricting the male vote -- to only those men whose related women (wives, daughters, mothers) have voted previously -- would ensure some degree of fairness.
It's a safe bet that if DEBKA says something, it's probably not true. I suspect if anyone is stirring things up it's Iran. Those Shiite clerics seem to want an Iranian style government. They are talking about outlawing everything from TV and foreign movies to dominoes, and imposing strict Shiara.
While nobody wanted to see extensive civilian casualties in this war, in a way the defeat of Saddam may have been too painless. The Iraqis do not feel like a defeated people, which will make shaping the post war Iraq harder. They are already talking about "our revolution" as though they overthrew Saddam, and we are invaders. Whatever happens we need to make it clear we are not going to sit by and allow a new Islamo-fascist state to emerge.
Once we get the infrastructure operational again, it will be possible to address the public through television and radio. It would be nice to get some newspapers up and running again, too.
Lugar is suffering from the same syndrome that kids in the back seat of a car suffer during a long road trip.
LOL. I'm glad an Indian-ian said that. I was so furious at his comments this morning that I emailed him of my displeasure . . . but nothing beats getting it from the home folks.
Question . . . Wasn't he against the war? Or am I thinking of someone else?
Aren't they also being supported by the Iranians? I thought a lot of them were exiles living in Iran. If so, you can bet the bank that Iran is supporting them financially and any other way they can. The Ayatollahs and Mullahs are, to say the least, unpopular in Iran. They were on a short rope before we took Iraq out. Just imagine how fast the Iranian populace will rise up WHEN the Iraqis realize their freedom.
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