American military commanders did not impose curfews, halt looting or order Iraqis back to work after former president Saddam Hussein's regime fell because US policymakers were reluctant to declare US troops an occupying force, says an internal army review examined by The Associated Press.
As a result, the Bush administration's first steps at reconstruction in Iraq were severely hampered, creating a power vacuum that others quickly moved to fill, and a growing mistrust on the part of ordinary Iraqis, the report said.
The review, a postwar self-evaluation by the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), said the political decision to call the US forces that arrived in Baghdad "liberators" instead of "occupying forces" left the division's officers uncertain about their legal authority in postwar Baghdad and other cities. Under international law, the report says, the troops were indeed an occupation force and had both rights and responsibilities.
"Because of the refusal to acknowledge occupier status, commanders did not initially take measures available to occupying powers, such as imposing curfews, directing civilians to return to work, and controlling the local governments and populace. The failure to act after we displaced the regime created a power vacuum, which others immediately tried to fill," the report says.
The report, marked "For Official Use Only," was obtained by AP, the Washington security think tank Globalsecurity.org and other outlets. A spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division, Major Darryl Wright, characterized it as a candid effort to find ways to improve the division the next time it is called to fight.
Wright said the final version was not complete. It reflects multiple, sometimes disparate, points of view from officers and troops who took part in the fighting, he said.
In many ways, it mirrors recent criticisms by Jay Garner, the retired American general who briefly headed the first occupation government in Iraq. Garner said in a BBC interview aired Wednesday that the military did not act quickly enough to restore law and order and key services in Baghdad, and should have tried harder to win support from the Iraqi people.
Between 12,000 and 15,000 3rd Infantry Division troops fought in Iraq, and 44 were killed in action, Wright said. The division, along with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, comprised the bulk of the ground advance north from Kuwait to Baghdad during late March and early April.
In the section regarding legal matters facing the division, the report said unidentified "higher officials" constrained the occupation effort and did not prepare for the fall of Saddam's government.
"Despite the virtual certainty that the military would accomplish the regime change, there was no plan for oversight and reconstruction, even after the division arrived in Baghdad," the report says. "State, Defense, and other relevant agencies must do a better and timelier job planning occupation governance and standing up a new Iraqi government."
The division confiscated US$1 billion from palaces in Baghdad, but was not permitted to use that money to help the city on its feet, despite having the legal authority to do so, the report says.
The hunt for evidence of Saddam's alleged chemical, biological and nuclear programs -- the Bush administration's key reason for going to war -- also was problematic from the start, the report says.
"During the transition from combat operations to support and stability operations, we did not attempt to secure these key facilities before looting started," the report says.
"The visible clues that may have provided a detailed analysis on WMD production, research and development, or storage were either destroyed or carried away by the local populace," according to the report.
The report recommends troops be sent to quickly secure such sites during future conflicts.
The report does suggest the division had unprecedented battlefield coordination with special operations forces, the Central Intelligence Agency (referred to only as the "Other Government Agency") and "information operations" aimed at making Iraqi generals and troops switch sides or not fight.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was