Powell: Post-War Iraq to Transfer Quickly to Iraqi Control
By Kathleen T. Rhem
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, April 3, 2003 – Immediately after the Iraqi regime falls, U.S. and coalition military officials will assume
responsibility for stabilizing the country, but soon after will transition to an "interim Iraqi authority," Secretary of
State Colin Powell said today.
In the immediate "post-hostilities phase," military commanders will be responsible for stabilizing the country and
providing security, finding and destroying weapons of mass destruction, and assessing infrastructure, Powell said. He
addressed reporters after a meeting of NATO ministers and European Union officials assembled at NATO headquarters in
Brussels, Belgium.
That military leader will perform that job as the commander of the liberating force. But "we will quickly want to bring
in individuals who can establish an interim Iraqi authority so that the people of Iraq can very quickly see that their
own representatives are moving into positions of authority," Powell said.
The secretary added that international organizations, such as the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, would
have active roles in post-war Iraq.
Powell noted that the United States and a few European nations had serious disagreements over using force in Iraq,
"heated disagreements where we came to opposite conclusions on a very important issue of the day." He didn't mention
specific countries, but the most vehement opposition to military action came from France and Germany.
Still, now that war has begun, he said, "we now must move forward and align ourselves again with the need to serve the
Iraqi people.
"The people of Iraq deserve a government that is responsive to its needs, that reflects all of the dreams and hopes and
aspirations of the Iraqi people," he continued. And it's U.S., coalition and international community collective
obligation to ensure "that hope is not deferred or defeated."
Powell rejected a reporter's suggestion that U.S. diplomacy is failing. "U.S. diplomacy is alive and well," he countered
before launching into a lengthy overview of diplomatic efforts U.S. officials made before starting military operations
in Iraq.
"We used skillful diplomacy to get to the point of (U.N. Security Council Resolution) 1441, but diplomacy must be backed
by force," Powell said. "Diplomacy is useless if one is not willing to use force to impose the will of the international
community on a nation such as Iraq, which violated the will of the international community for 12 years."
The resolution, passed unanimously in November 2002, authorized "severe consequences" if Iraq failed to willingly
disarm.
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