The original plan for postwar Iraq was for the State Dept. to have the governing authority. It was also the plan for that authority to be passed off to an intermediate Iraqi government as quickly as possible. Also the Iraqi army was not to be disbanded. The National Security Directive 24 which Bush signed changed all that. NSC 24 instead gave postwar Iraq authority to the Pentagon. The rest is history. Former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith was the effective head of postwar Iraq. Paul Bremer and the CPA answerd and took instructions from Feith. Feith also set policy for Iraqi prisoners and detainees in Iraq.
Over a year ago on October 21, 2004 Sen Carl Levin submitted a 46-page report to the Senate Armed Services Committee regarding prewar intelligence. The report concluded that " Mr. Feith had practiced a continuing deception of Congress." At the same time Congressman John Conyers wrote a letter to the House Judiciary Committee demanding an investigation into the "substantial, credible evidence that Pentagon officials engaged in unathorized activity". He named Feith and others.
In 1997 Douglas Feith and his father Dalck were honored by the Zionist Organization of America as " pro-Israel activists". Douglas Feith has authored/coauthored many books/policy papers for Israeli think tanks that seemingly conflict with official US policy in the Middle East. For example in 1997, Feith co-authored along with Richard Perle, David Wurmser ( Cheney's advisor on the Middle East) " A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm". The policy paper advised then Prime Minister Elect Natanyahu to abandon the Oslo Peace Accords and take a hard line with the Palestinians. The " realm" to be secured was Israel not America. One wonders how someone with less of a right-wing Zionist attitude would have handled events relating to Iraq? An occupation of Iraq is a plus for Israel but a negative for America.
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