New York, Oct 20: The occupation forces' inability in imposing stability in Iraq has been attributed to ignoring by Pentagon officials, a year-long US State Department study that had predicted many of the problems which have plagued the American-led forces.
Beginning in April 2002, the US State Department project
assembled more than 200 Iraqi lawyers, engineers, business
people and other experts into 17 working groups to study
topics ranging from creating a new justice system to
reorganizing the military to revamping the economy.
"Their findings included a much more dire assessment of
Iraq's dilapidated electrical and water systems than many
Pentagon officials assumed," a report in the New York Times
said yesterday.
The report, quoting internal State Department documents
and administration and congressional officials, warned of a
society so brutalized by Saddam Hussein's rule that many
Iraqis might react coolly to Americans' notion of quickly
rebuilding civil society.
However, several officials said that many of the findings
in the USD five million study were ignored by Pentagon
officials until recently even as the Pentagon said they took
the findings into account.
Bureau Report
