When I first read this my jaw dropped. I just could not believe it. The hubris and arrogance involved is staggering. It is ridiculous. These people must be stopped. I wonder how the Japanese will feel about this. It’s just sick.
NY Times: US Plan for Iraq Based on Occupation of Japan:
The White House is developing a detailed plan, modeled on the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military government in Iraq if the United States topples Saddam Hussein, senior administration officials said today.
The plan also calls for war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders and a transition to an elected civilian government that could take months or years.
Why am I not surprised? Months or years while we have a nice protected stream of oil right to the US. Bush’s pay masters must be slavering.
In the initial phase, Iraq would be governed by an American military commander — perhaps Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of United States forces in the Persian Gulf, or one of his subordinates — who would assume the role that Gen. Douglas MacArthur served in Japan after its surrender in 1945. …
Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could be a lengthy occupation by coalition forces, led by the United States.
Officials say they want to avoid the chaos and in-fighting that have plagued Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taliban. Mr. Bush’s aides say they also want full control over Iraq while American-led forces carry out their principal mission: finding and destroying weapons of mass destruction.
There are weapons all over the world. This is a lie.
The description of the emerging American plan and the possibility of war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders could be part of an administration effort to warn Iraq’s generals of an unpleasant future if they continue to support Mr. Hussein.
They seem to be overly concerned with Iraq’s abilities. Fighting in Iraq will be very different then fighting in the desert near Kuwait.
Asked what would happen if American pressure prompted a coup against Mr. Hussein, a senior official said, “That would be nice.” But the official suggested that the American military might enter and secure the country anyway, not only to eliminate weapons of mass destruction but also to ensure against anarchy. …
Anarchy or just lack of US control?
The revelation of the occupation plan marks the first time the administration has described in detail how it would administer Iraq in the days and weeks after an invasion, and how it would keep the country unified while searching for weapons.
It would put an American officer in charge of Iraq for a year or more while the United States and its allies searched for weapons and maintained Iraq’s oil fields.
For as long as the coalition partners administered Iraq, they would essentially control the second largest proven reserves of oil in the world, nearly 11 percent of the total. A senior administration official said the United Nations oil-for-food program would be expanded to help finance stabilization and reconstruction.
Administration officials said they were moving away from the model used in Afghanistan: establishing a provisional government right away that would be run by Iraqis. Some top Pentagon officials support this approach, but the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and, ultimately, the White House, were cool to it.
“We’re just not sure what influence groups on the outside would have on the inside,” an administration official said. “There would also be differences among Iraqis, and we don’t want chaos and anarchy in the early process.” …
“Our intent is not conquest and occupation of Iraq,” Mr. Khalilzad said. “But we do what needs to be done to achieve the disarmament mission and to get Iraq ready for a democratic transition and then through democracy over time.”
Conquest and occupation is exactly what its about.
Iraqis, perhaps through a consultative council, would assist an American-led military and, later, a civilian administration, a senior official said today. Only after this transition would the American-led government hand power to Iraqis. …
Some experts warned during Senate hearings last month that a prolonged American military occupation of Iraq could inflame tensions in the Mideast and the Muslim world.
“I am viscerally opposed to a prolonged occupation of a Muslim country at the heart of the Muslim world by Western nations who proclaim the right to re-educate that country,” said the former secetary of state, Henry A. Kissinger, who as a young man served as a district administrator in the military government of occupied Germany.
This country is being controlled by lunatics. I have no doubt of it now.