IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION

Seattle Times: Rumsfeld: Rebuilding up to Iraqis

WASHINGTON — Iraqis rather than Americans will have to repair most of the damage done to their country by Saddam Hussein's socialist Baath party, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared yesterday.
"I don't believe it's our job to reconstruct that country after 30 years of centralized, Stalinist-like economic controls in that country," Rumsfeld told a National Press Club audience. "The Iraqi people are going to have to reconstruct that country over a period of time."

He added, "The infrastructure of that country was not terribly damaged by the war at all."

"Ironie, Ironie! Das Land wurde nicht von US-Bomben und 10 Jahre dauernden Sanktionen verwuestet, sondern vom "Kommunistischen Wirtschaftssystem".
Mr. Rumsfeld sollte sich besser daran erinnern was für Pflichten Besatzungsmaechte haben. Es gibt in grossen Teilen des Irak noch immer keine Sicherheit, noch immer keinen Strom und noch immer kein fliessendes Wasser"