[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23219-23223]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         IRAQ/MILITARY/RESERVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on March 19, 2003, the United States invaded 
Iraq against the broadest international opposition I had ever seen. 
President Bush remarked the coalition invaded; yet of the troops in 
combat theater, 94 percent were Americans.
  Then on May 1 of this year, George W. Bush, as Commander in Chief, 
flew onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, after circling 30 
minutes outside the San Diego shipyards as the ship approached shore, 
dressed in a flight suit, to announce that major hostilities were over. 
The battle of Iraq, he said, is one victory on a war on terror that 
began on September 11, 2001, and still goes on.
  That is what the President said. But now 5 months later, more U.S. 
citizens have died in theater than before the President declared 
victory. Our National Guard and Reserve forces are experiencing their 
longest deployments in U.S. history, with the Department of Defense 
extending their orders every day, and indeed today announcing more 
call-ups.
  As of September 9, 2003, according to Department of Defense 
officials, approximately 148,000 U.S. forces are in Iraq in support of 
combat operations. There are also 21,700 non-U.S. coalition forces from 
29 countries in Iraq. There are 172,362 Guard and Reserve soldiers on 
active duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the majority of those 
serving in the Army, 108,000.
  America's Guard and Reserve forces are being sent to Iraq for record-
breaking deployments. It is obvious that the war in Iraq is not 
proceeding as we were originally led to believe and longer troop 
deployments in theater have been necessary. But that is still no reason 
to turn our National Guard and Military Reserve into something they 
were never intended to be, active duty forces. Unfortunately, this is 
what is happening.
  At the beginning of September, the Department of Defense extended the 
tours of duty for Guard and Reservists to 1 year. Because of the 
dynamic situation in theater, one Army official said, asking he not be 
identified by name, ``We had to take a look at our overseas forces to 
make sure we were maximizing their deployment opportunity.''
  What possible dynamic situation could he be referring to? Could it be 
the fact that since President Bush announced that hostilities in Iraq 
were over that in fact 164 U.S. soldiers have been killed compared to 
the 138 who lost their lives before May 1? Over 1,240 have been 
injured.
  In our foolhardy rush to war, this administration clearly missed the 
mark. By relying on faulty intelligence, an utterly ill-conceived 
notion of Iraqi resistance and the total lack of an exit strategy, our 
brave servicemen and women are being placed in harm's way to face a new 
guerilla-style warfare. Active duty forces have been focused in Iraq, 
which the President says is the front in the battle on terrorism; yet 
most people know that 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers did not come 
from Iraq; they came from Saudi Arabia.
  The Taliban is now regrouping in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, and 
Afghanistan is a teetering tinderbox. More U.S. troops are being called 
to Afghanistan. Madrassas across the Islamic world turn out hate-
mongering acolytes daily. And the Israeli-Palestinian killing fields 
have never been so bloody. So what state of mind would compel a 
President to say it is over, and why would he define the front as Iraq?
  My primary concern this evening are those who are dying, in our Armed 
Forces and the innocent bystanders in the Middle East and central Asia. 
On ``Meet the Press,'' before the war, Vice President Cheney told Tim 
Russert, ``I really do believe the war, that we will be greeted as 
liberators. There is no question that they want to get rid of Saddam 
Hussein and they will welcome as liberators the United States when we 
come to do that.''
  It is inconceivable that the administration could commit our brave 
men and women to battle with such a flawed perception of Iraqi 
sentiment. The fact is our troops are being shot at instead of welcomed 
with open arms. And when they are not being shot at, they are being 
price-gouged by profiteers because the administration has not 
adequately provided for our troops, ranging from telephone service to 
goods and supplies to even Internet access.

                              {time}  2145

  Mr. Speaker, one of my constituents tells me that troops are having 
to ask family members to send them cash in one-dollar-bill increments, 
so they can pay to call their families back home by going to Iraqi 
establishments to make phone calls stateside. It costs them $1 a 
minute, our troops, the people who are putting their lives on the line. 
To me, that is totally unacceptable.
  And if they cannot afford $1 a minute, they are being told you can 
pay $3 an hour to use e-mail. The problem is the lines are so long, 
they cannot wait to do it. The administration has asked Congress for 
$87 billion more to fund nation-building in Iraq. Let me ask where has 
the $79 billion that was voted on last year gone? We cannot get reports 
back to the Congress line item by line item on where that money has 
been expended.
  Why can our troops not make free phone calls without having to pay $1 
a minute to an Iraqi citizen. Dozens of tales like this tell me that 
military morale will become lower in Iraq. Yes,

[[Page 23220]]

our men and women are gutting it out, and we are proud of them, but it 
did not have to be this way. Here are quotes from soldiers deployed and 
their families. A letter I received on June 24 from a soldier stationed 
in Iraq, ``If morale was any lower, this soldier, my mother's son, 
would have taken his own life a week ago. There ain't nothing you can 
do but read the sorrow through my pen. I hope between us something can 
be done to alleviate some stupid mistakes the Army has unraveled on 
us.''
  Another letter from a soldier reads, ``Mom, things here have just hit 
a new low. Go ahead, have a seat. Here is a small list of things going 
on here. Our deployment papers were cancelled before we left, but they 
still sent us. Nobody knew our unit was overseas until our tent burned 
down in Kuwait. We have enough bulletproof plates for half of our 
battery, front and back during the day. They give us one day's supply 
of water, and expect it to last 3 days. We receive mail once a week, 
Wednesdays, plus they lost two bags of mail. If morale was any lower, 
your son would not be writing you any more. What is happening?''
  Another letter from a mother of a servicewoman writes, ``We bravely 
watched as our soldiers left, not knowing what the future held. And 
surprisingly enough, we could not believe one of the first requirements 
from us would be to send such a basic item as toilet paper. Whenever I 
pack my care packages, I would use rolls of toilet paper to fill out 
the box. For anyone who says there is toilet paper in a soldier's MRE, 
don't be fooled. There are six squares, four inches by four inches. If 
you save all day, you will have 18 squares to handle your problem. Oh, 
and by the way, pray you do not get diarrhea. We sent our son mosquito 
netting, calcium and snacks. Today, we continue with our packages and 
ignore the cost of shipping. An average package costs around $15 to 
send. Two a week, 4 weeks a month averages about $120 a month. Oh, by 
the way, that does not include the cost of what goes into the package.
  ``Many families took considerable pay cuts when their soldier left, 
and today almost 7 months to the day, there are still families that are 
not getting the full benefits their soldier is entitled to. As families 
struggle to juggle all of their responsibilities at home, our soldiers 
are forced to struggle without many of the basics needed to survive. 
They are in heat averaging around 120 degrees with full gear on. Every 
day they face the risk of being shot. What is an issue and seems to be 
the most puzzling thing to me is their treatment by regular Army. In 
most cases, they are considered second-class citizens because they are 
Guard. As families, we go through the Guard ranks to inquire about help 
with this problem. We are told that the National Guard cannot help us 
because our soldiers are regular Army now. Well, if they are regular 
Army, why are they treated as if they are National Guard? And there is 
the ever-changing return date. Our soldiers have been deployed twice in 
2 years, so we wait and we pray for a return date.
  ``Every time our leadership appears on the news and without blinking 
an eye, they say our soldiers' orders are for 1 year, and that is what 
they should expect, but how can we keep up the morale of our soldiers 
without a real date of return to look forward to?''
  Mr. Speaker, this week the Bush administration has asked Congress for 
another $87 billion in American taxpayer money for the President's 
nation-building experiment in Iraq. What I want to know as one Member 
is why the troops from our region do not have the supplies and do they 
not have the services we should be affording them with the billions we 
have already sent?
  Yes, our Nation is being asked to do nation-building in Iraq. In 
fact, it is the mother of all nation-building experiments. Eighty-seven 
billion dollars in request is more than we send around the world for 
all of our foreign assistance in any year. In addition to that, it is 
more than we spend on all veterans' costs in a year, plus all of our 
housing programs around the country, plus all of the costs of NASA, 
plus all of the costs of transportation, plus all of the costs of 
environmental cleanup, all rolled together.
  It is an enormous amount of money. How ironic that the President, who 
was a candidate in 2000, bitterly denounced the practice of nation-
building, but he is now engaged in the largest nation-building 
experiment in history. Make no mistake, this is an extremely expensive 
experiment in nation-building, especially when we stop to consider that 
the United States Government is already digging a hole of debt deeper 
and deeper every day.
  Those $87 billion being requested will come out of the Social 
Security trust fund. Why? Because the fact is there is no more money to 
go around. We have huge deficits, and so we are going to have to borrow 
the $87 billion from somewhere and there is only one place to get it. 
This is the most fiscally irresponsible administration that I have ever 
seen.
  Now, how much is $87 billion? I do not think the American people 
really realize how huge this request is. Eighty-seven billion dollars 
equals $3,480 for every man, woman and child in Iraq. How would you 
like to get a check for $3,480? Eighty-seven billion dollars is more 
than all of the State budget deficits across this country combined.
  Our States are raising taxes and cutting programs like education with 
college tuition going up, cutting jobless benefits, Medicaid, library 
services, social services. Our States are choking from a lack of tax 
revenue because of unemployment in this Bush economy. We have $87 
billion for Iraq, but not even half of that for our States in this 
union? Eighty-seven billion dollars more is double what we are 
investing here in homeland security right here in the U.S.A.
  I can travel to any community in my district and hear from first 
responders, fire departments, police departments, emergency personnel, 
and port security who are desperate for funds to protect their 
communities. I hear from our personnel from the Port of Toledo who need 
funds to upgrade the security of our port, and that is true of every 
port in America. Eighty-seven billion dollars is eight times what we 
invest in Pell Grants for our college students. Ask any middle-class 
family about economic anxiety, and they will tell you they worry about 
job security, economic security and pension security. And they worry 
about how to pay for their kids' college.
  Our young people leave college with tens of thousands of dollars of 
debt. Some of them will be in debt for the rest of their lives just to 
pay for college. The United States Government just does not have $87 
billion laying around. We have budget deficits as far as the eye can 
see. Our next Federal budget deficit is probably in the neighborhood of 
half a trillion dollars, the largest in the history of the Republic. 
Where does it stop? The administration has no idea. We had a 
subcommittee hearing today and heard testimony from Ambassador Paul 
Bremer and also from General Abizaid, both men who live the words 
honor, duty and country. They do not know, they do not have a clue what 
it is going to cost our Nation to stabilize Iraq.
  This additional $87 billion is only a down payment until next year 
when the money runs out. The ranking member, the gentleman from 
Wisconsin (Mr. Obey) asked them for a ballpark figure, how much 
ultimately? They could not provide an answer. It is an open-ended 
commitment. They even said during the hearing, well, the waste water 
systems of Iraq are so bad that only 6 percent of the people are 
accommodated.
  I thought, oh, all right, so the $400 million that might be needed 
for waste water treatment in Toledo, Ohio will have to be put on hold 
because we have to transfer those dollars there, even though the waste 
water treatment system in my home community is spewing pollution into 
Lake Erie every day. There are some important trade-offs we have to 
think about.
  We have no exit strategy militarily, and that is a violation of the 
Powell Doctrine, in case anybody remembers, and we have no exit 
strategy fiscally. Iraq is a fiscal black hole becoming

[[Page 23221]]

bigger every day. We can pour as much money as we want down that hole, 
and we have no idea, no idea where it ends.
  I have never seen pallets of U.S. cash being flown to a country and 
handed out on the streets, but that is exactly what we are doing in 
Iraq. One of my questions is as money, as U.S. dollars are being 
distributed to Iraqis to pay their pensions, to pay them for doing 
police work, and I am not sure what all this money is going for, why is 
it being distributed in dollars? Why are dinars, their home currency, 
not being used? What is this business of pallets of U.S. dollars being 
flown over? We have flown over plane loads of $20 bills to hand out to 
people. In my life, I have never seen this happen. We have seen rice 
and flour and beans being handed out to hungry people. We have never 
seen pallets of money being distributed. It looks like what some people 
might call street money, walking around money. Maybe if we hand out 
enough $20 bills, the Iraqi people will suddenly fall in love with 
America and with our confused policy of nation-building.
  How strange that a neoconservative administration and Republican 
Congress, who are hostile to social programs such as Medicare and 
Social Security and students loans, would adopt a policy of handouts to 
the Iraqi people. Are we creating a Middle East version of a welfare 
state where people get money for doing nothing? While we cut benefits 
for Americans, we hand out $20 bills to Iraqis? Is this the legacy of 
the Bush policy? Free money for Iraqis, is this really what the 
administration wants?
  Meanwhile, the Bush administration is charging our troops in the 
Middle East in Iraq $1 a minute to call home to their families, yet 
they are handling out $20 bills in Iraq. Is this really U.S. policy in 
Iraq? It is happening. Families in my district are sending one dollar 
bills to their loved ones. One mother sent $75 in one dollar bills, put 
on the postage and sent it over there so her son could call home. At 
the same time, our government is handing out $20 bills to Iraqis.
  Is it too much to ask that our government provide a seamless 
communication system for our troops in theater, including Guard and 
Reserve forces, without whom we could not conduct this campaign, who 
are experiencing the longest deployments in U.S. history, and their 
families are missing them? So it goes in the war on terrorism.
  Yesterday, President Bush said that Iraq is the major front in the 
war on terrorism. But on Friday, he said that Saddam Hussein had 
nothing to do with 9/11. The administration cannot seem to get its 
story straight. Did Saddam Hussein have anything to do with 9/11? 
President Bush says no. Vice President Cheney says yes. Secretary of 
Defense Rumsfeld says no. Paul Wolfowitz did not appear. Secretary of 
State Powell seems to be laying kind of low lately. The administration 
policy is confused about where the front is. The President says the 
front is Iraq, but let us look at the facts. Fifteen of the 19 
hijackers were not from Iraq, they were from Saudi Arabia.

                              {time}  2200

  Now we see the Taliban forces are regrouping and fighting again in 
Afghanistan. Afghanistan is far from over, far from lockdown. Madrassas 
in Pakistan continue to churn out thousands of hate-filled young men 
each year. And the Israeli-Palestinian killing fields are bloodier than 
ever.
  Think about this. Think about where the front is. When President Bush 
nominated Texan Phillip Carrol, the former chief executive officer of 
Shell Oil, to oversee oil operations in post-war Iraq, was it merely 
coincidental that over one dozen Shell gas stations in Pakistan were 
bombed by terrorists? Think about it. Where is the front? Yet President 
Bush insists that Iraq is the frontlines in the war against terrorism.
  More troops from Ohio have just been deployed to Afghanistan because 
of uprisings in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Where 
is the front in this war? The President insists he needs another $87 
billion to clean up the mess in Iraq and build a stable nation, but the 
American people are deeply skeptical about where the front is and the 
administration policy in Iraq. And for good reason. Not only is there 
no coherent plan for the reconstruction of Iraq, there are serious 
doubts about where the front in terrorism really lies, and there is no 
clear road map, no exit strategy. Now more of our Reserve and Guard 
forces are being called up, without the ones currently in theater being 
given a certain rotation date out. It appears to me that the 
administration is making up their plan as they go along.
  In terms of the cost of all this in the President's $87 billion new 
request on top of the billions and billions already appropriated last 
year, Secretary Rumsfeld told us back in January of this year that we 
would not have to do this. In fact, his words were, ``Well, the Office 
of Management and Budget has come up with a number that's something 
under $50 billion for the cost. How much of that would be the U.S. 
burden and how much would be with other countries is an open 
question.'' But he said, ``I don't know that there is much 
reconstruction to do.'' He said that in April of 2003. The story must 
have changed because now we are being asked for $87 billion more.
  Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said, ``There's a lot of 
money to pay for this that doesn't have to be U.S. taxpayer money, and 
it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people . . . and on a rough 
recollection,'' he said, ``the oil revenues of that country could bring 
in between 50 and $100 billion over the course of the next 2 or 3 years 
. . . We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own 
reconstruction, and relatively soon.'' I think the question I would ask 
there is, then, why are we appropriating hard U.S. dollars? Why are we 
not making loans that can then be repaid back once the oil fields begin 
to operate again?
  Secretary Rumsfeld told us back in the fall of last year, ``If you 
worry about just the cost, the money, Iraq is a very different 
situation from Afghanistan because Iraq has oil.'' And again the 
Secretary said in March of this year, ``I don't believe that the United 
States has the responsibility for reconstruction because in a sense 
reconstruction funds can come from those various sources such as frozen 
assets, oil revenues, and a variety of other things including the Oil 
for Food program, which has a very substantial number of billions of 
dollars in it.''
  Clearly, this administration really does not know what it is doing. 
Secretary Powell, in answer to my question this year in an 
appropriations hearing prior to the invasion of Iraq, assured me that 
the United States would be welcomed in Iraq as a liberator, because I 
had been questioning him, ``Mr. Secretary, how do we know when we are a 
liberator versus when we are an occupier?'' Secretary Powell, with all 
due respect, was wrong.
  Vice President Cheney said the same thing on TV on ``Meet the Press'' 
in March when asked by Tim Russert, and I will repeat Mr. Russert's 
question: ``If your analysis is not correct, Mr. Vice President, and 
we're not treated as liberators but as conquerors and the Iraqis begin 
to resist, particularly in Baghdad, do you think the American people 
are prepared for a long, costly, and bloody battle with significant 
American casualties?'' And the Vice President responded, ``Well, I 
don't think it's likely to unfold that way, Tim, because I really do 
believe that we will be greeted as liberators . . . there is no 
question that they want to get rid of Saddam Hussein and they will 
welcome as liberators the United States when we come to that.''
  I think Vice President Cheney was wrong. At best, Iraq is a cauldron 
of competing interests, much as it has been since it was created by the 
British Empire. At worst, the Bush administration has succeeded only in 
creating another failed state that can serve as a staging ground for 
more international terror war.
  Before another $87 billion in cash is directed at Iraq, we had better 
get clear answers on how the current situation can yield a governing 
structure that is representative. Of the 25 members the United States 
has appointed to Iraq's governing council, 11 are exiles,

[[Page 23222]]

11 of 25. These are people who had been living outside of Iraq for some 
3 and 4 decades. That means 44 percent of the people on the governing 
council were not even there, some for decades. What do we really know 
about these people on the governing council? How representative are 
they of the Iraqi people? Indeed, whose interests do these 25 
represent?
  We should ask how can exiles be more representative of Iraqis than 
those living in the country now, those who endured the suffering of the 
Hussein regime. Indeed, many new sources have reported the current 
president of that council, appointed by the United States Department of 
Defense, Ahmad Chalabi, was a convicted felon who embezzled over $350 
million and counting in Jordan, who was then exiled, escaped in the 
trunk of a car, and subsequently took up residence in London for years. 
He had been associated with the former monarchy of Iraq. So whom does 
he represent?
  In the Record tonight I am going to place two compelling news stories 
about who is this man, how democratically was he chosen? I am 
submitting for the Record also the names of all persons on the 
governing council of Iraq. The world community should assess them and 
their ability to represent the people of Iraq. From my study of the 
list, it appears Iraq's indigenous Shia majority is seriously 
underrepresented as is its Sunni minority. Tragically, one of the 
council's Shia members is the brother of the famed Ayatollah Hakim, who 
was just assassinated. And another Shia representative, Aquila al 
Hashimi, a woman, was shot a few days ago but survived.
  With two thirds of Iraq's population composed of Shia Muslims, but 
only about a third of the council comprised of Iraqi Shias who actually 
have been living in the country, one can question how representative 
the governing council is. Further, the Sunni minority's 
underrepresentation is worrisome as well. Somehow the world community 
and our Arab friends must weigh in on creating a governing structure 
that is more representative and moves Iraq toward free elections as 
expeditiously as possible. After all, the Iraqi people are a literate 
people. An unrepresented governing council cannot possibly succeed in 
transferring democratic principles to Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, in concluding this evening, the path forward to me is 
clear. Congress should not give a blank check to the Bush 
administration on its $87 billion request for more funds for Iraq. We 
must demand clear reporting of all expenditures to date in Iraq and 
demand clear explanations of why more appropriated dollars are 
necessary as opposed to loans that can be repaid as Iraq's economy 
recovers. We must clarify the front in this war on terrorism and not 
lose focus on other places where terrorism is spawning. A major 
diversion of funds to Iraq can indeed draw attention and resources from 
equally tender places where terrorists are spawning. For example, the 
deterioration of the Israeli-Palestinian situation feeds growing 
terrorism across the region. Indeed, it is its clarion call. The 
continuation of the madrassas schools that foment violence by young men 
continue to graduate thousands. There is no money in this budget to 
deal with that festering problem.
  And Afghanistan is far from buttoned down. Importantly, we must do 
more for our troops and provide them with what is necessary to complete 
their mission and return them home soon. We must assure the 
administration provides them with clear rotation out schedules. And we 
must enlist the broader world community in assuming a larger role in 
the massive task of rebuilding. We must urge the composition of the 
governing council be more representative, indeed more democratic, in 
order that a transition to a more orderly society through free 
elections can occur soon. Doing any less will not yield an enduring 
victory for freedom in Iraq.

                                                         MEMBERS OF THE IRAQI GOVERNING COUNCIL
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                                                                 Organizational
                Name                   Shiite/Sunni, etc.          affiliation        Rotating presidency         Occupation               Other
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Abd al-Aziz Al Hakim...............  Shiite................  Political leader of     Yes..................  .....................  .....................
                                                              the Supreme Council
                                                              for Islamic
                                                              Revolution.
Abdul Karim Mohammedawi............  Shiite................  Guerrilla affiliated    .....................  .....................  ``Prince of the
                                                              with Supreme Council                                                  Marshes''--led
                                                              for Islamic                                                           opposition in the
                                                              Revolution.                                                           Southern Marsh
                                                                                                                                    Region.
Adnan Pachachi.....................  Sunni.................  ......................  Yes..................  .....................  Served as Foreign
                                                                                                                                    Minister before the
                                                                                                                                    Baath Party came
                                                                                                                                    into power. 80 years
                                                                                                                                    old.
Ahmad al-Barak.....................  Shiite................  General Coordinator     .....................  .....................  Worked with UN
                                                              for the Human Rights                                                  programs in Iraq
                                                              Association of Babel.                                                 since 1991 in the
                                                                                                                                    Foreign Ministry.
Ahmad Chalabi......................  Shiite................  Leads Iraqi National    Yes..................  .....................  Exiled for the nearly
                                                              Congress.                                                             45 years. Educated
                                                                                                                                    at MIT. Convicted of
                                                                                                                                    embezzlement in
                                                                                                                                    Jordan.
Aquila al-Hashimi..................  Shiite................  ......................  .....................  Diplomat. Holds        Woman. Led the Iraqi
                                                                                                             doctorate in French    delegation to the
                                                                                                             literature.            New York donor's
                                                                                                                                    conference. Worked
                                                                                                                                    in the Foreign
                                                                                                                                    Ministry under
                                                                                                                                    Hussein.
Dara Noor Alzin....................  Sunni Kurd............  ......................  .....................  Judge................  Served on the Court
                                                                                                                                    of Appeal until
                                                                                                                                    Hussein imprisoned
                                                                                                                                    him for ruling
                                                                                                                                    against the
                                                                                                                                    government.
Ezzedine Salim.....................  Shiite................  Head of the Dawa        .....................  .....................  .....................
                                                              Islamic Party.
Ghazi al-Yawar.....................  Sunni.................  ......................  .....................  Civil engineer.......  Had been living in
                                                                                                                                    Saudi Arabia where
                                                                                                                                    he was president of
                                                                                                                                    Hicap Technology.
Hamid al-Moussa....................  Shiite................  Secretary of Iraqi      .....................  Economist............  .....................
                                                              Communist Party.
Ibrahim Jafari.....................  Shiite................  Spokesman for the       Yes--first to take     .....................  Party was banned in
                                                              Islamic Dawa Party.     post.                                         1980 and he fled the
                                                                                                                                    country.
Iyad Allawi........................  Shiite................  Secretary-General of    Yes..................  .....................  Exiled.
                                                              the Iraqi National
                                                              Accord.
Jalal Talabani.....................  Sunni Kurd............  Leader of the           Yes..................  Lawyer...............  .....................
                                                              Patriotic Union of
                                                              Kurdistan.
Mahmoud Othman.....................  Sunni Kurd............  Founder of Kurdish      .....................  Independent Kurdish    Lived in London.
                                                              Socialist Party.                               politician.
Massoud Barzani....................  Sunni Kurd............  Leader of the           Yes..................  .....................  Commands tens of
                                                              Kurdistan Democracy                                                   thousands of armed
                                                              Party.                                                                militia fighters.
Mohammed Bahr Uloom................  Shiite................  ......................  Yes..................  Cleric...............  Fled Iraq in 1991.
                                                                                                                                    Headed charitable
                                                                                                                                    clinic in London.
                                                                                                                                    Considered pro-US.
Mohsin Abdul Hamid.................  Sunni.................  Secretary-General of    Yes..................  .....................  Author of more than
                                                              the Iraqi Islamic                                                     30 books on the
                                                              Party.                                                                interpretation of
                                                                                                                                    the Koran.
Muwaffaq al-Ruba...................  Shiite................  Dawa Party............  .....................  Physician and author.  Human rights
                                                                                                                                    activist. Educated
                                                                                                                                    in UK.
Nasir al-Chadirchy.................  Sunni.................  Leads the National      .....................  Lawyer and             Lived in Iraq
                                                              Democratic Party.                              businessman.           throughout most of
                                                                                                                                    Saddam's regime.
Raja al-Khuza'i....................  Shiite................  ......................  .....................  Heads maternity        Woman. Studied and
                                                                                                             hospital in            lived in the UK
                                                                                                             Diwaniyah.             during the 60's and
                                                                                                                                    70's. Returned to
                                                                                                                                    Iraq in 1977.
Salaheddine Bahaaddin..............  Sunni Kurd............  Founder of Kurdistan      ...................  .....................  .....................
                                                              Islamic Union.
Samir Shakir Mahmoud...............  Sunni.................  ......................  .....................  Writer and             .....................
                                                                                                             Entrepreneur.
Sondul Chapouk.....................  Turkmen...............  Directs the Iraqi       .....................  Engineer and teacher.  Woman. Represents the
                                                              Women's Organization.                                                 Turkmen community.
Wael Abdulatif.....................  Shiite................  Governor of Basra.....  .....................  Lawyer and judge.....  .....................
Yonodam Kanna......................  Assyrian Christian....  Secretary-General of    .....................  Engineer.............  Served as
                                                              the Assyrian                                                          Transportation the
                                                              Democratic Movement.                                                  first Kurdish
                                                                                                                                    regional assembly
                                                                                                                                    and as Trade
                                                                                                                                    Minister.
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Note.--Spelling of names may vary.

               [From the New York Times, Sept. 20, 2003]

                      Listening to the Wrong Iraqi

                         (By David L. Phillips)

       Critics say the Bush administration had no plan for postwar 
     Iraq. In fact, before the war, hundreds of Iraqis were 
     involved in discussions with Washington about securing and 
     stabilizing their country after military action. Today's 
     difficulties are not the result of a lack of foresight, but 
     rather of poor judgment by civilians at the Pentagon who 
     counted too much on the advice of one exile--Ahmad Chalabi of 
     the Iraqi National Congress--and ignored the views of other, 
     more reliable Iraqi leaders.

[[Page 23223]]

       Last year the State Department, joined by 17 other federal 
     agencies, put together the Future of Iraq Project, which was 
     supposed to involve Iraqis from the country's many ethnic and 
     religious factions, including representatives from the exile 
     community. The project had working groups on topics ranging 
     from agriculture to the economy to new government structure. 
     I was adviser to the democratic principles working group, 
     which the Iraqis called the ``mother of all working groups.'' 
     Anticipating many of the problems playing out in Iraq today, 
     participants worked on plans for maintaining security, 
     restoring services and making the transition to democracy.
       On security, the participants envisioned a key role for 
     reformed elements of the Iraqi Army. They insisted on the 
     dissolution of agencies involved in atrocities--like military 
     intelligence and the secret police (the Mukhabarat)--and 
     proposed setting up a body to investigate war crimes, prepare 
     a ``most wanted'' list, and prosecute war criminals. They 
     envisioned a military council vetting and then taking steps 
     to professionalize the armed forces.
       Representatives of the Iraqi National Congress, however, 
     claimed to control a vast underground network that would rise 
     in support of coalition forces to assist security and law 
     enforcement. They insisted that the entire Iraqi Army be 
     immediately disbanded. The Pentagon agreed, in the end 
     leading many Iraqi soldiers who might otherwise have been 
     willing to work with the coalition to take up arms against 
     it. Mr. Chalabi's promised network didn't materialize, and 
     the resulting power vacuum contributed to looting, sabotage 
     and attacks against American forces.
       The working group also emphasized winning hearts and minds 
     of average Iraqis, largely through improving living 
     conditions. It urged cooperation with Iraq's existing 
     technocracy to ensure the uninterrupted flow of water and 
     electricity. Though civil servants and professionals for the 
     most part were required to be Baath party members, the 
     working group maintained that not all Baathists were war 
     criminals. The group proposed so-called lustration laws to 
     identify and remove officials who had committed. atrocities.
       On the other hand, the Iraqi National Congress was adamant 
     that all former Baath party members were inherently complicit 
     in war crimes. Siding with Mr. Chalabi, the coalition 
     provisional authority decided that the Baath party would be 
     banned, and dismissed many party members from their jobs. As 
     a result millions of Iraqis are still without electricity and 
     fresh water, necessities they could at least count on under 
     the criminal regime of Saddam Hussein.
       Most important, the working group insisted that all Iraqis 
     needed a voice in the transition to a stable, democratic 
     Iraq. Participants agreed that exiles alone could not speak 
     for all Iraqis, and endorsed discussions with leaders inside 
     and outside the country as the basis for constituting a 
     legitimate and broadly representative transitional structure.
       Before the London opposition conference in December, Mr. 
     Chalabi lobbied the United States to appoint a government in 
     exile, dominated by his partisans, to be installed in Baghdad 
     at the moment of liberation. Concerned about legitimacy, the 
     Bush administration ultimately rejected this proposal. Still, 
     Mr. Chalabi's supporters in Washington--particularly 
     civilians in the Pentagon--relentlessly promoted him as 
     Iraq's future leader. Exceptional treatment included 
     airlifting Mr. Chalabi and his American-trained 700-man 
     paramilitary force to Nasariya in the middle of the war. He 
     is now a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, serving as 
     its president this month.
       Why such devotion to a man whose prewar advice proved so 
     misguided? For one thing, Mr. Chalabi has shown himself 
     amenable to those in Washington who want to reshape the 
     entire Middle East. They envision Iraq as a springboard for 
     eliminating the Baath party in Syria, undermining the mullahs 
     in Iran and enhancing American power across the region.
       There are benefits to spreading democracy in the Middle 
     East, but hegemonic ambitions are sabotaging the shorter-term 
     project of turning Iraq into a viable state. The other day, a 
     Sunni participant in the democratic principles working group 
     told me he is reluctant to speak up about how its 
     recommendations have been ignored lest criticism discourage 
     the coalition. In frustration, he asked: ``So this is 
     liberation?''
       The Iraqi people have suffered a generation of tyranny and 
     deserve better. To succeed in Iraq, and be constructive 
     elsewhere in the world, the Bush administration must listen 
     to all voices, not just those that are ideologically 
     compatible. Liberation cannot be imposed.
                                  ____


               [From the New York Times, Sept. 23, 2003]

         Iraq Council Head Shifts to Position at Odds With U.S.

              (By Patrick E. Tyler and Felicity Barringer)

       Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 22.--Ahmad Chalabi, the president of 
     Iraq's interim government, is in New York this week to press 
     alternatives to the Bush administration's occupation policy 
     in postwar Iraq, he and his aides say. In the process, he may 
     complete a personal transformation from protege of Pentagon 
     conservatives to Iraqi nationalist with a loud, independent 
     voice.
       In an interview today in New York, Mr. Chalabi professed 
     gratitude to the Bush administration for toppling Saddam 
     Hussein's government, but his specific proposals were 
     directly at odds with the policies Washington is pursuing in 
     Baghdad and at the United Nations. He demanded that the Iraqi 
     Governing Council be given at least partial control of the 
     powerful finance and security ministries, and rejected the 
     idea of more foreign troops coming to Iraq.
       Mr. Chalabi's strategy, he says, is to get from the United 
     Nations General Assembly sovereign status for the unelected 
     25-member Governing Council. This move to lobby other nations 
     for a swift transfer of some sovereignty is going down poorly 
     in Washington, according to the Iraqi leader's aides.
       Mr. Chalabi has sent representatives to France and Germany 
     to discuss putting Iraqis back in charge under a new United 
     Nations mandate that would end American control of the 
     occupation, even if American troops remain in Iraq. His aides 
     say he also plans to tell the Senate that the United Nations 
     could save billions of dollars on Iraqs reconstruction by 
     allowing an Iraqi administration to handle it.
       ``People in D.C. are accusing us of `conspiring with 
     America's enemies,''' one aide said, describing the reports 
     of his advance men on the mood in Washington.
       Mr. Chalabi insists that he is not changing diplomatic 
     sides. ``The last thing we are going to do is fall into the 
     trap of France,'' he said this weekend. He said that he was 
     looking forward to seeing the president at a reception Mr. 
     Bush is giving for visiting government leaders on Tuesday 
     evening, and that his strategy was intended to make it easier 
     to maintain the American presence in Iraq.
       ``I am fighting to keep Americans in Iraq,'' Mr. Chalabi 
     said before leaving Baghdad. ``We are afraid that they will 
     lose their resolve and go home if the current situation 
     continues.''
       Yet Mr. Chalabi's arrival in New York with a delegation 
     determined to advance the clock on sovereignty puts him and 
     the interim government he heads in direct confrontation with 
     Mr. Bush.
       ``We want to claim Iraq's seat at the United Nations,'' Mr. 
     Chalabi said today.
       He also declared that ``we are not at cross purposes'' with 
     the Americans, but his words seemed so.
       The United States is seeking a new United Nations 
     resolution that would help bring foreign troops into Iraq in 
     a newly constituted multinational force. At lease one major 
     potential troop donor, Pakistan, says it wants an invitation 
     from the Governing Council first.
       ``We cannot be expected to solicit foreign troops in 
     Iraq,'' Mr. Chalabi said. ``We cannot be expected to do 
     that.''
       He said some aspects of governance should be handed over 
     immediately.
       ``They can start by putting Iraqis to be in joint control, 
     with the coalition, of Iraqi finances,'' he said. ``All of 
     these are measures that would demonstrate increasing 
     sovereignty in Iraq.'' Asked when, he replied, ``Right 
     away.''
       He also sought an immediate role in commanding security 
     forces, saying, ``We think that internal security in Iraq 
     cannot be maintained unless Iraqis are far more involved than 
     they are now.''
       A senior Bush administration official reiterated over the 
     weekend that ``we'll stay on the same schedule'' of keeping 
     Iraq under a strong American-British occupation while 
     proceeding with drafting a new Iraqi constitution, to be 
     followed by national elections sometime next year.
       That extended debate over sovereignty and the end of the 
     occupation is part of a political struggle that neither side 
     feels it can afford to lose.

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