http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/25/international/worldspecial/25POST.html Made up almost exclusively of former ambassadors in the region. I don't know any of them, nor do most anyone here I'd assume, but given the alternatives if this is what happens I agree with the approach. Much better than using military leaders. Leader: Jay Garner -- former general; runs Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, a Pentagon office. Primary organizer: Richard Solomon, who runs the US Institute of Peace. Never heard of this group before, but its aims appear noble. The team: Barbara Bodine -- former ambassador to Yemen George Ward -- former ambassador to Namibia Kenton Keith -- former ambassador to Qatar and director of the Coalition Information Center in Islamabad, Pakistan, during the Afghanistan war Robin Raphel -- former ambassador to Morocco Timothy M. Carney -- former ambassador to the Sudan
I've heard of Jay Garner, but don't know anything about him other than that he's a retired Army General from Florida.
The U.S. Agency for International Development has issued eight solicitations to date for reconstruction activities in Iraq. http://www.usaid.gov/iraq/activities.html
Frontline mentioned Bodine in the documentary on John O'Neill, the FBI agent who was hot on the trail of Al-Qaeda before he was killed in the 9/11 attacks. O'Neill's New York FBI team was at the center of bureacratic arm-wrestling over who would head the 1998 investigation into the embassy bombings in East Africa. O'Neill again was the focus of a heated political battle over the investigation of the 2000 attack against the USS Cole in Yemen. Current and former government officials such as Richard Clarke, counterterrorism chief in the Clinton administration and Barry Mawn, former head of the New York FBI office, recount how O'Neill's desire to show the Yemeni security forces -- which he viewed as being less than cooperative -- that the FBI meant business was one of many issues in the investigation which angered U.S. Ambassador Barbara Bodine. Finally, when O'Neill made a brief trip home to New York for Thanksgiving, Bodine denied his re-entry visa, preventing him from returning to the investigation. Insiders tell FRONTLINE that O'Neill's removal from the scene in Yemen may have seriously limited the Cole investigation -- an inquiry that some speculate might have led O'Neill to the Sept. 11 hijackers in time to foil their plans. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/etc/synopsis.html
Re: Re: Re: Post-war civilian government leadership selected She came off bad in the Frontline report ... almost (gasp!) French!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Post-war civilian government leadership selected Thanks. It's been nearly a day since I saw a gratuitous swipe at the French.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Post-war civilian government leadership selected Yeah she did come off badly*: very turf conscious and wrong headed. I'd be interested in hearing her side of the story, though. I thought that Frontline piece was a little too onesided. *Yet another example of my ongoing albeit Quixotic effort to restore the adverb to its rightful place in the Pantheon of Grammar.