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March 10, 2003

Frank Miller, an official handpicked by Condoleezza Rice to handle postwar policy issues, briefs national security deputies and the President on postwar plans. Miller assures them that only the top one percent of Baath Party officials will be purged from the government and that deBathification will leave the Iraqi army largely intact. George Packer writes in The Assassin's Gate, "Everyone up to the president approved these eleventh-hour decisions. And yet, somehow, they would never matter in Iraq. They seemed to exist so that, in case anyone ever asked, someone would say, "Yes, the president was briefed and he signed off.""

Miller adds that it is important that deBaathification doesn't cripple the Iraqi military because the army will be integral to the postwar plan. Coalition forces do not have the manpower to control Iraq nor do the troops understand the political situation in the country.

Posted on 03/10/03 at 11:18 AM

Tags: Bush, Quagmire, Rice

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