Winning the peace

In the next few days, President Bush will be making decisions that could determine whether a Free Iraq emerges from the ashes of Saddam Hussein’s Stalinist state. The most important of these is: Will Mr. Bush entrust the realization of the promise of a liberated Iraq to those whose military successes have nearly brought it to fruition in just over a fortnight’s time?

In a new op-ed Center President Frank Gaffney argues that turning this hugely important task over to those who either intentionally sought to forestall such an — would be to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory.

The president, however, is coming under intense pressure from various sources, notably British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the State Department and the Congress, to deny the Pentagon the pre-eminent role it has earned with the development and execution of a brilliant battle plan for toppling Saddam.

Mr. Bush must now draw a difficult, but unavoidable line. If he is serious about restoring to Iraqis at the earliest possible time the responsibility for their self-governance, he really has no choice but to give the lead to the Defense Department. Its Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, led by retired Army Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, is in place in the theater and will be able most efficiently to draw upon the Pentagon’s physical and logistical resources to begin rebuilding Iraq.

There will, of course, be room for U.N. organizations to help with humanitarian relief, medical assistance, food distribution, etc., just as there will be appropriate advisory roles for State Department specialists and experts drawn from other U.S. agencies. But the authority for making the proverbial trains run on time and the wherewithal for doing so should be reposed in the one organization that has demonstrated the ability to get done the job assigned it by the President: the Defense Department.