Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf

Friday, April 04, 2003

Unconventional hit: Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf warns coalition forces are about to face "something that is not conventional" tonight. Could the unconventional threat be a biological or chemical attack or suicide bombings? Wolf Blitzer reports live from Kuwait on the looming battle for Baghdad. Join us tonight at 5 p.m. ET for more on this threat and the latest tape recording of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

KUWAIT CITY, KUWAIT (CNN) -- It seems almost everyone here in Kuwait has a horrible story about living through seven months of Iraqi military occupation a dozen years ago.

The Iraqis, they say, looted their country, terrorized the public, and arrested, tortured and executed people at will. That helps to explain why people in this small but affluent Arab country so strongly support the United States in the war against Iraqi President's Saddam Hussein's regime.

Indeed, in conversations over these past weeks since I have been here, Kuwait citizens have repeatedly expressed bewilderment why people around the world don't seem to agree with them. Kuwaitis, in short, can't wait for the United States and its coalition partners to be in Baghdad and to see Saddam Hussein gone.

Having said that, they also don't want the U.S. military to remain in charge of Iraq for very long. They fear that a prolonged U.S. military presence will simply antagonize Iraqis and others in the Arab world, given the history of Western imperialism and colonialism in this part of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region.

They would like to see democratic Iraqis quickly take charge of their day-to-day activities. If there needs to be an outside presence to help during a transition period, these Kuwaitis, by and large, want the United Nations to play the dominant role. As one prominent Kuwaiti said to me this week, "The Americans may be well received in the short term, but that could quickly change."

The Bush administration certainly has been considering a post-Saddam game plan for Iraq. A whole team of retired military officers and former State Department diplomats -- backed by experts from the private sector -- is ready to move into Iraq to take charge of everything from the Ministry of Information to the Ministry of Trade to the Ministry of Defense and everything in between.

Senior Bush administration officials believe that removing the influence of Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party will require the same kind of military strategy that was used after World War II in both Germany and Japan. A U.S. military authority remained in charge until Germans and Japanese could take over reformed and democratic governments.

It's worth pointing out that all these decades later, the United States still maintains a significant military presence in both Germany and Japan. Will U.S. forces remain in Iraq also for decades to come?

With U.S. soldiers and marines now in the suburbs of Baghdad, this kind of post-war planning has certainly accelerated. But it will take much more than military might to make sure that a new Iraq emerges -- one that brings true peace and prosperity to the people there. It will take a sophisticated understanding of the subtle but sensitive ethnic divisions inside the country. And it also will take a determined and clear-cut public message to the people there.

These are enormous political and economic challenges as difficult as the military challenge.

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