Federal News Service - The Nomination of Lieutenant General John Abizaid to be Appointed the Rank of General and Commander of US Central Command

Federal News Service

June 25, 2003 Wednesday

SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING

HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
 
SUBJECT: THE NOMINATION OF LIEUTENANT GENERAL JOHN ABIZAID TO BE APPOINTED TO THE RANK OF GENERAL AND TO BE COMMANDER OF U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND
 
CHAIRED BY: SENATOR JOHN WARNER (R-VA)
 
LOCATION: 216 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Thank you.

Morning, General. I'm interested in the process of, obviously, first providing security in the country, but then what steps are being taken to make sure that the Iraqis have a reasonable opportunity to create a democracy, a representative form of government within their country and one that recognizes the basic human rights of the Iraqi people—to speak, to worship as they see fit according to their conscience, to exercise their right of consent to the laws and the policies that govern them.

I'd be interested in your—well, first of all, I guess, given the joint nature of the arrangements between Ambassador Bremer and General Sanchez, is that something that CENTCOM is intimately involved in, or is that something that Ambassador Bremer is doing in connection with the State Department?

Could you describe who has responsibility for that—that process.

GEN. ABIZAID: Yes, sir. Ambassador Bremer has the lead for re- making the governmental institutions. He has a group of some extremely talented folks from all over the U.S. government that are putting teams together that will eventually help the Iraqis with the constitutional process. And he reaches out to Iraqi leadership, political leadership almost daily. He has a(n) extremely active program to build a representative government within Iraq.

And as you know, Senator, this is really probably the toughest of all missions. There's no real tradition of democracy as we know it in Iraq. We wish them luck, and they'll need a lot of help. But I think that if anybody can make it happen, it's the people that are working for Ambassador Bremer and Ambassador Bremer himself. There is great interest in doing it right. And, of course, there are many conflicting opinions. The important aspect that Central Command brings to the table is our ability to provide a secure environment in which meetings can be held, in which people can express their opinions, et cetera.

So, yes, we are partnering in this. But as I mentioned before, their—the Iraq problem won't be fixed by any single solution, not by a single military solution or a single governmental solution. We have to move together economically, militarily, diplomatically and on governmental reform together. And as we do that, things will improve.

SEN. CORNYN: I know immediately after the main hostilities ended there was various comments made—I believe General Garner and others had expressed—maybe it was their hope as opposed to their—a realistic expectation, but how long that we would need to stay to provide that help and assistance to the Iraqi people as they attempt to establish the rule of law in a representative government. Do you have an opinion as to what sort of timetable that we may be looking at before the Iraqi people are able to take that responsibility in hand without perhaps risking the loss of everything that we've been able to gain through the great effort of our military forces in such a brief period of time?

GEN. ABIZAID: Sir, the Iraqi people are moving ahead and are very anxious to take charge of the political process of their own future. And that is exactly what we want them to do. And Ambassador Bremer is there to assist, not to dictate.

The process will take time. Governmental and institutional reform will take a long time. And I would certainly say that American engagement in that regard will be measured in years. The military side of the engagement will depend upon whether or not we are successful in building Iraqi police institutions, Iraqi military institutions, and the presence of other international forces. And while I will only say that our military involvement there will be certainly a long one, I wouldn't want to—I wouldn't want to characterize how long I think it's going to be. But it can come down as we have success on the institutional front.

SEN. CORNYN: I actually am very glad to hear you say that, because I think it's far more realistic than perhaps some of the statements that were made immediately following the main conflict about our desire to get in and out quickly. And, of course, maybe that was our desire, but the reality is, I believe, as you have expressed it. And we have some history of reconstruction post-war in places like Japan and Germany and—which obviously is on the order of years, not days or weeks. I was concerned, and I'd be interested in your comment on this, after the Gulf War we encouraged some Iraqis to rise up against Saddam, and then we left, and he used that as an opportunity to repress, indeed, to murder, thousands of Iraqis. Until we actually find Saddam and account for him, whether dead or alive, is—do you view that as a pivotal event that will assist us in moving forward and the Iraqi people moving forward? Do you feel like they are hesitating now because of their uncertainty as to his outcome?

GEN. ABIZAID: Sir, in the north they're not hesitating. The Kurdish population is moving forward. And in the south, the Shi'a are very, very active politically. And as far as they're concerned, they're not overly worried that Saddam will reappear. The real problem is in the Sunni heartland. And we need to ensure that we can account for Saddam Hussein so that the people that were on his—on his team before and are supporting violence against our forces understand that there's no future for them. We also need those members of the Sunni community that would otherwise be afraid to come forward and establish some sort of political activity in the Sunni community that is outside the scope of the Ba'ath Party. I think some of them are hesitant to do that until we close out the case of Saddam.

SEN. CORNYN: Thank you, general.