WASHINGTON -- Rhode Island's congressional delegation greeted yesterday's news from Baghdad with a mixture of admiration for the U.S. military achievement, worry over the continuing civil disorder and hope that the rebuilding of Iraq draws more allies than the war did.
Even Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the delegation's sharpest critic of the war and the only Senate Republican to oppose it, expressed satisfaction at "the ability of our fighting people to engage [the enemy]. The way they performed, I've got to be honest, is really impressive."
But Chafee expressed skepticism that President Bush would match his pledge for a "vital" United Nations role in postwar Iraq with the kind of American commitment needed for the U.N. to remain "a viable entity." Key Bush administration members "have been disdainful" of the U.N., Chafee said.
"All over the world, there is a feeling that this was a belligerent incursion," Chafee said, voicing fear of long-term damage to America's international standing.
"In the short term, it hasn't been good," Chafee said. "The Canadians are booing our national anthem at hockey games."
Under the circumstances, however, Chafee said Mr. Bush is correct to offer the U.N. a role in humanitarian efforts but to withhold any dominant U.N. role in the postwar governance of Iraq.
Sen. Jack Reed and Representatives Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin also praised what Reed called the "basic soundness" of the U.S. war plan and the skill and adaptability the military showed in executing it, despite the surprising strength of some Iraqi units.
Reed cautioned, however, that potentially dangerous concentrations of Iraqi troops remain in control of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's home city, and also in key cities and oil-rich facilities to the north of Baghdad. U.S. and British troops averted the devastation that was feared for the oil resources in southern Iraq. "This is still on the list of concerns for the north," Reed said.
On the postwar front, Reed said he senses that a momentous "fight" is now under way between the Defense and State Departments for control of the rebuilding of Iraq. Reed said he would prefer that "sooner rather than later" the State Department assume control of what should be "a broad multilateral presence" in Iraq.
Reed shied away from specific recommendations for how other nations should be involved in the process, except to reject the two most prominent demands on the table yesterday: French President Jacques Chirac's assertion that the U.N. alone should lead the effort and Mr. Bush's apparent preference to restrict the U.N. to humanitarian and advisory jobs.
Reed said the United States should secure as many concrete contributions to the postwar effort as possible from other nations -- whether through the U.N., NATO, or by other means.
Kennedy, the only Rhode Islander to vote for Mr. Bush's war resolution last fall, hailed what he called "the spectacular success" of the military and ticked off a list of the predicted pitfalls that have been avoided: destruction of the oil fields, chemical weapons attacks on allied troops and catastrophic civilian and allied casualties.
Nevertheless, said Kennedy, "we've suffered a great blow" from the failure to secure a broad alliance for the fight. Kennedy, too, avoided specific postwar prescriptions but said the United States must be prepared to cede some control of the rebuilding effort in order to begin repairs to damaged relationships with allies.
Langevin said he worries that Mr. Bush will not give the U.N. a big enough role in postwar reconstruction, but he declined to say what the U.N.'s role should be.
Get war updates, watch video of the toppling of the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad, find more reports from Journal staffer Michael Corkery, and more at:
http://projo.com/extra/2003/iraq
