A trip down memory lane
You know, if someone really wanted to twist Condi's nipple, they might remind her that as of October 6, 2003 (or thereabouts) she has been the responsible party in the Iraq Stabilization Group.
Iraq: New U.S. Plan Seeks To Expedite Reconstruction
By Andrew F. Tully
The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush, facing persistent problems with restoring order in much of Iraq, has formed the Iraq Stabilization Group to expedite its rebuilding and security efforts there. Ultimate responsibility for reconstruction has been shifted from the Pentagon to the White House, under Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.
Washington, 8 October 2003 (RFE/RL) -- At a news conference in Washington on 6 October, U.S. President George W. Bush expressed confidence that all is going well in Iraq.
"The situation is improving on a daily basis inside Iraq. People are freer, the security situation is getting better, the infrastructure is getting better, the schools are opening, the hospitals are being modernized," Bush said.
During the same appearance, however, Bush appeared to contradict that conclusion by discussing the creation of the Iraq Stabilization Group, under which the ultimate oversight of Iraqi reconstruction will no longer rest with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld but with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and the White House National Security Council.
"This group formed within the National Security Council is aimed at the coordination of interagency efforts, as well as providing a support group to the Department of Defense and [top U.S. administrator in Iraq L. Paul] Bremer," Bush said.
The fact that Rumsfeld was originally in charge of Iraqi reconstruction represented a shift from past practice. Historically, such efforts have been the province of the State Department, which reportedly had spent 18 months developing a reconstruction plan for Iraq in case the United States went to war there.
Bush originally decided to give the job to Rumsfeld's Pentagon, but the White House now recognizes that the job has not been going well. That's the conclusion of Marina Ottaway, a senior associate of the Democracy and Rule of Law Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington policy center.
Indeed, in an interview with the "Financial Times" yesterday, Rumsfeld said he had not been informed of the creation of the Iraq Stabilization Group beforehand.
