Agence France-Presse . Washington

Almost five years after the start of the Iraq war, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, acknowledged Wednesday that US-led efforts to rebuild the country should have begun much earlier.

‘I would have to admit, I think we’ve learned that, yes, it is really important to be able to help others build their states, to help others build their nations,’ she told US lawmakers.

She was replying to a question on whether the administration of the president, George W Bush, had changed its mind on the controversial issue of helping other countries with ‘nation-building.’

‘My view is, it is still something that we need to do with civilians,’ Rice, who was national security advisor at the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, told a congressional committee.

She was defending the administration’s 2008-2009 budget which has earmarked some 249 million dollars to create 351 diplomatic posts devoted to ‘nation-building.’ Bush had refused to entrust to the US Army the task of helping the Iraqis rebuild their institutions which had fallen into disrepair under former president Saddam Hussein.

And when he was campaigning for the 2000 elections, Bush vehemently opposed the idea of that the Army should be involved in such duties. ‘I don’t think our troops ought to be used for what’s called nation-building. I think our troops ought to be used to fight and win war,’ he said in a election debate when asked about helping Somalia to rebuild.

Rice, one of Bush’s closest advisors, also opposed the idea. ‘This comes down to function,’ she told the New York Times at the time.

‘Carrying out civil administration and the police functions is simply going to degrade the American capability to do the things America has to do. We don’t need to have the 82nd Airborne escorting kids to kindergarten.’

Comments

Add New

Write comment
Name:
Email:	We don't publish your mail. See privacy policy.
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.