Bush Names Rice To Head Nation Rebuilding
Glenn Kessler
Washington Post
December 15, 2005
President Bush formally designated Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lead efforts to rebuild and stabilize nations suffering from war or civil strife, the White House said yesterday.
The announcement of the new presidential directive -- under discussions for months -- is the closest the administration has come to acknowledging that it bungled the planning for postwar Iraq when Bush gave the Pentagon authority for stabilization.
Before the 2003 invasion, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his aides largely ignored postwar planning by the State Department, nixed key State officials from going to Iraq and tried to create from scratch an organization to run the country. If the directive had been in place at the time Bush contemplated the invasion, the State Department would have been in charge, officials said yesterday.
Under pressure from Congress, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in 2004 created an office to coordinate reconstruction, but until now it did not have government-wide authority. Carlos Pascual, who headed the 55-person office, is leaving to join the Brookings Institution; Rice is interviewing possible successors.
Under the directive, the secretary of state will prepare agencies for postwar work, coordinate with the Pentagon during military operations and seek to identify states that are failing.
After poor coordination among agencies in Bosnia, President Bill Clinton issued Presidential Decision Directive 56 in 1997 to ensure better coordination in post-conflict emergencies. The PDD resulted in better coordination between military and civilian efforts after the war in Kosovo but was largely ignored by the Bush administration.
Washington Post
December 15, 2005
President Bush formally designated Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lead efforts to rebuild and stabilize nations suffering from war or civil strife, the White House said yesterday.
The announcement of the new presidential directive -- under discussions for months -- is the closest the administration has come to acknowledging that it bungled the planning for postwar Iraq when Bush gave the Pentagon authority for stabilization.
Before the 2003 invasion, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and his aides largely ignored postwar planning by the State Department, nixed key State officials from going to Iraq and tried to create from scratch an organization to run the country. If the directive had been in place at the time Bush contemplated the invasion, the State Department would have been in charge, officials said yesterday.
Under pressure from Congress, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell in 2004 created an office to coordinate reconstruction, but until now it did not have government-wide authority. Carlos Pascual, who headed the 55-person office, is leaving to join the Brookings Institution; Rice is interviewing possible successors.
Under the directive, the secretary of state will prepare agencies for postwar work, coordinate with the Pentagon during military operations and seek to identify states that are failing.
After poor coordination among agencies in Bosnia, President Bill Clinton issued Presidential Decision Directive 56 in 1997 to ensure better coordination in post-conflict emergencies. The PDD resulted in better coordination between military and civilian efforts after the war in Kosovo but was largely ignored by the Bush administration.
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