State Department experts who had planned for the post-war period were pushed aside by Pentagon officials, including defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who strongly resisted the notion of nation-building.
A former senior official involved in what he called the “chaos” of post-war reconstruction efforts in Iraq said yesterday’s announcement also affirmed the growing power and influence of Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state.
Pejman Yousefzadeh:
I am far less interested in this than I am in whether a good working relationship between the State Department and the Pentagon will eventuate. It will be key to the reconstruction effort, and if only for reasons of bureaucratic survival (remember that Donald Rumsfeld is a Jedi Master when it comes to interagency warfare), it will be in Condi Rice's interests to foster such a relationship.
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