General takes aim at Iraq action

Andrew Edwards

Retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who was the top U.S. official in Iraq

immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, outlined his

views on post-invasion policies during a brief address Friday morning

to a small audience at The Center Club.

Inside Iraq, Garner was in charge of rebuilding efforts from April

to May 2003, when he was replaced by former Ambassador L. Paul Bremer

III.

Garner said U.S. officials have made mistakes in Iraq, but gave

high praise to American military troops serving in there and

encouraged the audience to do the same.

“When you see one in the airport, walk up to him and hug him and

say, ‘Thank you for your service. Here’s my first-class ticket,’”

Garner said.

The situation in Iraq, Garner asserted, is not as dire as the

public may conclude from news reports. The retired general, who also

served in Vietnam, argued that comparisons between that war and Iraq

are inaccurate. Garner said U.S. forces in Iraq are fighting

terrorists and guerrillas, not organized fighters like the North

Vietnamese Army.

The only similarity between Iraq and Vietnam, Garner said, is his

perception that reporters covering both wars focused on negative

information.

“The only common thread that I can tell between Vietnam and Iraq

is the media -- which will never report anything good,” he contended.

Garner also derided as myth the idea that U.S. officials did not

plan for post-invasion Iraq. He said official plans included

preparations for the possible displacement of millions of Iraqis, oil

field fires, famine and epidemics. He acknowledged U.S. planners did

not anticipate the magnitude of the ongoing insurgency.

“No one, myself included, thought it would be to the degree it

is,” Garner said.

More troops should have been deployed to secure post-invasion

efforts, Garner said. He also said dissolving the Iraqi army and

removing many bureaucrats who were members of Hussein’s Baath Party

created about 250,000 enemies for American forces.

Garner thinks democracy can take hold in Iraq, but people should

not expect an ideal government to immediately flower in there. He

reminded the audience that the United States took about 200 years to

abolish slavery, let women vote and end segregation.

If Iraq’s problems prove too much to overcome, Garner argued the

United States should hedge its bets with Iraq’s northern region of

Kurdistan. He included Kurdistan with Israel and Turkey in his list

of the Middle East’s three democracies.

For postwar efforts to succeed, Garner said Iraq should develop a

federal system to represent Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites, provide

employment to youth who might otherwise become terrorists and share

oil revenues with Iraqi citizens.

One of the sponsors of Friday’s event was GR Capital Asset

Management, which has offices in Newport Beach. Company President

Todd Rustman said he has invested in Iraqi currency and was

interested to hear a firsthand perspective of Iraq.

“There’s a lot more than meets the eye,” Rustman said.

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.