Printer-friendly VersionBy Qassim Khidhir
The Kurdish Globe
After originally espousing a federal system at the outset of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, Garner was dismissed by Washington's top leaders.
Jay Garner, the first top U.S. civilian administrator of post-war Iraq who was replaced by Paul Bremer, says the best plan for Iraq is to have a soft central government with a federal system, including one federal region each for Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites.
"I thought over time one of two things would happen if we did that; either the federal districts would grow together into one unified federation with the stronger central government, or they would go on their on way. Both ways are democratic," Garner told The Kurdish Globe.
Garner said in 2003 he had a plan for Washington for a federal system in Iraq, about which he met with the National Security Advisor in the U.S. at that time, Condoleezza Rice. She responded that it wasn't the right time to discuss federalism and the discussion ended there.
When Garner first visited Iraq, he asked Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Massoud Barzani, now president of Kurdistan Region, to help him gather all Iraqi political leaders in Baghdad for discussions on Iraq's future.
"Talabani suggested that I should meet al-Hakim, leader of Shiite Council, but I told him I was a little bit uneasy about al-Hakim," said Garner. "He said, look Jay, it is better to have al-Hakim with you inside the tent than outside the tent. I told him that was very good advice. After one week I started to see Iraqi leaders every day and I met al-Hakim many times."
Garner planned to do several things in Iraq urgently in the beginning, including end the fuel crisis, pay the army, police, and retired community, elect a city council, bring the ministries back to full service, and increase the capacity of electricity.
Garner said after a short time in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense, told him that President George W. Bush selected Paul Bremer to be the U.S. envoy in Iraq.
He believes that Kurdistan is a good example for the rest of Iraq, and he said if the next U.S. president pulls the American army out it will create chaos. Because they train Iraqi security and how Iraq presently runs itself, it is better that the U.S. stay for awhile, he said.
Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, and Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, the top military leader in Baghdad at the time, have both said they were not consulted about the decision in May 2003 to disband the Iraqi army.
Lt. Gen. McKiernan has gone as far as to state that Bremer's claims otherwise are "absolutely false."
Disbanding Iraq's army now ranks as the most important factor behind the rise of the insurgency, which has contributed to the deaths of 3,988 U.S. and 174 British troops.
Mr. Bremer has argued that the army had already disbanded itself, but just weeks earlier Lt. Gen. McKiernan's staff had warned against the consequences of putting 300,000 trained fighters "on the streets."
Andy Bearpark, a former private secretary to Baroness Thatcher and a director of Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority, told the British Daily Telegraph: "One of the tragedies was that the Brits were so light in their impact. Bremer just didn't want any of their voices getting in the way of his decisions."
On the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion, Kurdistan's President Barzani described overthrowing Saddam as a historical event and strongly criticized Paul Bremer's policy in Iraq.
Barzani said the first time he and other Iraqi political leaders met Bremer, he said: "The word "invasion" is ugly, but it is a fact and I hope you can live with it. I will consult you, but it doesn't mean that I will do things according to your advice." Barzani said Bremer had little information about Iraq and the Middle East and he was not ready listen to anyone.
"His American and Iraqi advisors who accompanied him to Iraq told him that the Iraqi political parties have no more roles in Iraq and he can issue any decision without facing any objection," said
Barzani.