SENATE IRAQ HEARINGS, SUMMER 2002

Before the invasion, many people spoke out about the dangers involved. These warnings were ignored by the criminal Bush regime, blinded as it was by its own ideology. Colonel Scott Feil was among those who offered cogent warnings, some of which I will reproduce here. According to the transcript of the hearing,

"He served in Desert Storm from '90 to '91. He received a Purple Heart. He was chief of the Strategy Division of the Joint Staff from '99 to 2000. He's now executive director of the Role of American Military Power Program at the Association of the United States Army. His responsibilities include co-directing a program for post-conflict resolution."

Feil did beleive the lies about WMD but nonetheless tried to point out the many factors that needed to be planned for.

FEIL: First, there are indications which are arguable that removal of the current security forces and apparatus without significant capabilities to immediately replace them may result in reprisal and retribution killings in Baghdad and other large cities. Public order and the protection of the populous and the humanitarian relief effort is paramount in this regard.

Disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts will demand special attention. With the Iraqi forces, including their reserves equaling about 700,000 personnel and another 60,000 in the various security services, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration efforts will dwarf anything that we have previously attempted. Iraqi's large and organizationally diverse security forces will require integration into organizations that are visible, transparent and responsive to a legitimate government.

You've heard my colleague just previously talk about the economy and releasing some several hundred thousand people back into the economy as a result of a demobilization ... efforts to provide employment and useful things for idle hands to do.

Retired Gen. Hoar pointed out that we would need a large number of troops:

SEN. NELSON: Both of you were talking about the forces that would have to be brought to bear from the outside. Do you have a sense from your military
experience as to how many troops we're talking about?

MR. HOAR: Well, I think from Tom's comments, he believes that a good deal more can be done with the new technology that is available to us than I believe.
I think that as Tony Cordesman said this morning, you may be able to do this on the cheap, but in the event that it doesn't work you need to be prepared with a fallback position. The old military belief is you make an assumption, then you have an ultimate plan to make sure that if the assumption doesn't work that you
in fact have another choice.It seems to me that at the end of the day you're going to have to put people on the ground. The Republican Guard divisions, their loyalty to the regime, it seems to me that you can't do that on the cheap. Having said that, the very things that Tom has mentioned, particularly with smart bombs, the command control communications and so forth, had improved enormously and would be much, much easier than it was in Desert Storm, but I'm afraid you still have to put a fairly large number of folks on the ground.

SEN. NELSON: And not doing it on the cheap and putting large numbers on the ground, we're really talking about a quarter of a million troops, aren't we, having the backups that you're talking about? If things go wrong you've got to have that capability of backup.

MR. HOAR: I'd be reluctant to put a number on it because I don't know what people that are much closer to this problem than I. But I'd say it's in that ball park, yes, sir. It is certainly not the 70,000 that we heard from time to time.

SOURCES:
LEXIS-NEXIS
FDCH Political Transcripts
August 1, 2002 Thursday
TYPE: COMMITTEE HEARING
LENGTH: 25480 words
COMMITTEE: SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEEHEADLINE: U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE) HOLDS HEARING ON MILITARY INVOLVEMENT IN IRAQSPEAKER:U.S. SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN (D-DE), CHAIRMAN
LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C.
WITNESSES:PHEBE MARR, FORMERLY AT NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY RAHIM FRANCKE, IRAQ FOUNDATION SINAN AL-SHABIBI, ECONOMIST, UNITED NATIONS, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND COLONEL SCOTT FEIL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ROLE OF AMERICAN MILITARY POWER, PROGRAM, ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY

Federal News Service
July 31, 2002 Wednesday
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING
LENGTH: 39186 words
HEADLINE: HEARING OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE SUBJECT: IRAQ CHAIRED BY: SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN JR. (D-DE)
LOCATION: 419 DIRKSEN SENATE OFFICE BUILDING, WASHINGTON, D.C.
WITNESSES: PANEL II: GENERAL JOSEPH HOAR (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND; ROBERT GALLUCCI, DEAN, SCHOOL OF FOREIGN SERVICE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY; DR. MORTON HALPERIN, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS; CHARLES DEULFER, VISITING RESIDENT SCHOLAR, MIDDLE EAST STUDIES, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES; LT. GEN. THOMAS MCINERNEY (RET.), FORMER ASSISTANT VICE CHIEF OF STAFF; PANEL III: DR. SHIBLEY TELHAMI, PROFESSOR AND ANWAR SADAT CHAIR, DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND; DR. FOUAD AJAMI, PROFESSOR AND DIRECTOR OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES, SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY; DR. GEOFFREY KEMP, DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL STRATEGIC STUDIES, NIXON CENTER;