Bush Reorganizes Iraq Stabilization Effort

WASHINGTON/BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Bush said on Monday he had ordered a major reorganization of U.S. efforts to bring stability to post-war Iraq, and the Turkish Cabinet sought parliamentary approval to send peacekeepers to help restore security to the country.

Bush, under increasing pressure to bring stability and security to Iraq, named national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to head an "Iraq Stabilization Group" charged with coordinating U.S. efforts on counterterrorism, economic issues, political institutions and communications.

The reorganization gave Rice a more direct role over the situation in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan, but aides insisted the new group would not diminish the authority of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Officials said Rumsfeld and the U.S. leader of postwar efforts in Baghdad, Paul Bremer, helped craft the new group, which will include representatives from the State Department, Defense and Treasury.

Bush's attempts to gain broader international support to assist in peacekeeping and reconstruction efforts in Iraq have been stymied by continuing instability in the country, where attacks on U.S. troops occur almost daily.

The Aug. 19 bombing of U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, which killed 22 people and prompted Secretary-General Kofi Annan to scale back the U.N. presence in Iraq, dealt a blow to U.S. efforts to broaden international participation in post-war reconstruction and peacekeeping through the United Nations.

Since then, Annan has challenged Washington's blueprint for Iraq, saying he did not want to risk more lives for the marginal U.N. political role envisioned in a new U.S.-drafted resolution meant to attract more money and troops.

In Turkey, however, the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan moved ahead with efforts to send peacekeepers to Iraq to assist NATO ally the United States. The Cabinet sent a motion to the legislature on Monday evening seeking authorization to send the peacekeepers.

A vote on the measure could come as early as Tuesday, and a government spokesman expressed optimism it would be approved, despite the Parliament's rejection in March of a government proposal to let U.S. forces deploy on Turkish soil for an invasion of Iraq.

"Had we had any doubts, we wouldn't be sending this motion," government spokesman Cemil Cicek told reporters after Monday's five-hour Cabinet meeting.

Cicek said the motion called for a year-long deployment but did not specify how many troops would be sent.

In Iraq, officials on Monday awarded licenses for firms to set up mobile phone networks, rebuffing calls by some American lawmakers to use U.S.-backed technology to restore war-shattered communications.

Communications Minister Haidar al-Ebadi said Iraq's three regional networks would use the GSM system, already used across the Middle East, rather than U.S.-backed CDMA technology.

The licenses are among the most potentially lucrative and high-profile contracts to be offered by the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority which governs postwar Iraq.

The new networks -- expected to be running within weeks according to Ebadi -- will be a boost for businesses and government ministries, but a functioning national phone system could also allow guerrillas fighting the U.S.-led occupation to organize themselves better on a national level. (Additional reporting by Fiona O'Brien in Baghdad)

It is a hopeful sign that Bush at least recognizes all has not gone as well as anticipated.

In that regard he is more realistic than some Freepers who seem to think any criticism of the Iraqi experience to date is unreasonable.

2 posted on 10/06/2003 4:13:47 PM PDT by RJCogburn ("I want a man with grit."..................Mattie Ross of near Dardenelle in Yell County)

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3 posted on 10/06/2003 4:14:30 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)

Not unreasonable, simply oftentimes the cause of intentionally sown dissent and misinformation. I will state point blank that if we fail in Iraq, the lies from the international press will be the biggest reason.

The troops who risk their lives call the press "enemy #1" - not Saddam, Al Qaeda or Bin Laden. If you know anything about what these terrorists are capable of doing to their "fellow man" it should tell you something about today's press.

4 posted on 10/06/2003 4:18:17 PM PDT by Ragtime Cowgirl ("This isn't a game." <> "This is our lives." ~ Iraqi victim of Saddam to war critics who say "QUIT")

In that regard he is more realistic than some Freepers who seem to think any criticism of the Iraqi experience to date is unreasonable.

No plan we have regarding Iraq is ever going to be so perfect we won't have to "re-organize it", or adjust it from time to time due to the changing situation. But I do agree with your above statement.

5 posted on 10/06/2003 4:51:11 PM PDT by KineticKitty (We support our troops...as long as what they say/do fits our preconceived notions?)

I just loved how Kerry said that this reorganization PROVED Bush didn't know what he was doing in Iraq.

Pitiful people!

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