Iraq's New Government is Ready and Waiting

American executive Jay Garner will bear responsibility for winning the peace. He and dozens of other U.S. employees are already in the Middle East, waiting to take over the basic functions of Iraq's government from finance to utilities.

By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum

April 8, 2003

President Bush is battling with other world leaders over how much control of post-war Iraq the U.S. will relinquish to an international coalition. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair debated that, among other issues, during their summit Monday in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Blair, unlike Bush, would like to have a strong presence of United Nations peacekeepers in Iraq after the conflict is over.

But one big question is already settled. The post-war governor of Iraq will be an American named Jay Garner. He's the most important corporate executive you never heard of before the war. And while the fighting in Baghdad--and the question of whether Saddam Hussein is still alive--continues, the components of Iraq's interim government after the war already are on the ground in the Middle East. Garner, who's on leave from defense contractor L-3 Communications, is in charge of those components. He will bear the responsibility for winning the peace--feeding the hungry, fixing the infrastructure, and creating a democratic government.

He and dozens of other U.S. employees are now in the Middle East waiting for the hostilities to subside. They represent, in effect, a shadow government waiting to take over the basic functions of Iraq's government from finance to utilities. Garner intends to name at least three sub-administrators for different regions of the country. According to published reports, Maj. Gen. Bruce Moore will head the northern region, Retired Lt. Gen. Buck Walters will oversee the southern region, and career diplomat Barbara Bodine, most recently the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, will head the key central region. Meanwhile, General Tommy Franks's Arabic-speaking deputy, Army Lt. Gen. John Abizaid, will lead the military part of the cleanup. In addition, the U.S. has begun to fly into the region Iraqi exiles who may work alongside the U.S. experts to piece together the salvageable parts of what will surely be a shattered government structure.

Garner, 64, is an almost perfect fit for the job. As an Army general in 1991, he helped lead Operation Provide Comfort, which delivered food and shelter to Kurds in northern Iraq after the first Gulf War. He became well-known in military circles for espousing the then-unorthodox view that the military should be used as a "merciful instrument in shaping future humanitarian operations."

That's one reason his old friend Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld brought Garner back to the Pentagon in January to head the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, which was designated an expeditionary force and is now somewhere in the Middle East. The office has developed detailed plans for a post-Saddam Iraq. Insiders say Garner will implement those plans as the head of civil authority under General Franks.

His civilian status is a big plus. After President Bush's heavy-handed walk-up to war, the last thing the U.S. needs is a modern-day General MacArthur rolling into Baghdad. And it will take someone with serious business know-how to "introduce a capitalist system where there's been central-control socialism since the 1960s," says Ariel Cohen, a foreign-policy expert at the Heritage Foundation. Garner has that, too. He directed several major Defense Department programs, including Star Wars, a Rumsfeld favorite. After retiring as a three-star general in 1997, Garner became president of SY Technology, a Virginia provider of communications and targeting systems for missiles. SY was bought last year by L-3 Communications for a reported $48 million. After the merger, Garner ran an L-3 subsidiary that included his old company.

"He put SY Technology on the map," says Gil Meyer, a retired Army general now working in the defense industry.

Still, the choice of Garner isn't without controversy. Some critics of the war have asked why a defense-industry executive should win the top job in a post-war Iraq. In addition, according to Time Magazine, some Arabs are disturbed that Garner signed a statement blaming Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority for orchestrating violence in 2000.

But most of what has been said about Garner is very positive. Colleagues describe him as hypercompetent, with a personal touch--a man who can solve tough problems without being overbearing. "He wouldn't dodge bullets; he'd bite them," says retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, who served with Garner in the Pentagon. Adds Gordon Sullivan, president of the Association of the U.S. Army: "He wasn't so tightly wound that he couldn't see the humor in situations." He tells co-workers to call him Jay, not General. And he maintains a deep compassion for the Iraqis. He keeps framed on his office wall pictures drawn by the children he helped in the aftermath of the first Gulf War.

But revitalizing Iraq will depend on two factors beyond Garner's control: the ability of U.S. soldiers to pacify Saddam's troops and the willingness of allies to assist in reconstruction (the tab could reach $20 billion a year, experts say). In addition, the length of the interim government's rule is a matter of intense debate. Bush administration officials say it will last at least six months. Skeptics say it could last years.

In fact, the Bush administration itself is divided about how much of an international flavor the next government in Iraq should have. Colin Powell at the State Department is more Blair-like in his position. The hawks at the Pentagon, led by Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are determined to keep a strong U.S. hand in Iraq for as long as possible.

The hard-liners at the Pentagon ask, Why allow countries like France, Germany and Russia, which opposed the war, come and win the peace for their own commercial gain? Meanwhile, some State Department officials contend that the job of reorganizing a country of 23 million people will be too expensive and complex for a single country to handle on its own.

Then again, the debate may be less intractable than early reports indicate. According to Powell: "There isn't as much debate and disagreement as you might read in the newspapers." Indeed, even Powell believes that the coalition prosecuting the war should lead the way in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq. "The coalition, having taken the political risk and having paid the cost in lives, must have a leading role," Powell says.