Jay Garner - The New Ruler of Iraq

President-designate, viceroy, regent and pro-consul - these are exotic and misleading descriptions of his new job - Director of the Pentagon's new Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq.

Garner is said to be a good listener

The task the retired military man from Florida has undertaken is to lead a post-war Iraqi civil administration now that Saddam Hussein's regime is over.

He has been put in charge of short-term humanitarian assistance, starting the work of rebuilding damaged infrastructure and preparing the ground for a civil administration - the Iraqi Interim Authority.

And he has already set to work, hosting the first US-brokered meeting of Iraqi representatives to discuss the future of the country, which took place on 15 April.

Oficials say they expect to see a "rolling transition" from Mr Garner's administration to the interim authority.

Thursday, 10 April, 2003, 11:42 GMT 12:42 UK

The big question for Iraq once the war is over is: who will be in charge? In Kuwait, a US-led agency set up under the auspices of the US Defense Department is preparing to take charge of civilian matters for the foreseeable future.

A 200-strong team of former US military and other government agency personnel, humanitarian workers and Iraqi experts have assembled under the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance.

The man in charge is retired American General Jay Garner, an old friend of US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He will be, in effect, de facto ruler of Iraq in the immediate post-war period and answerable to US war commander General Tommy Franks, who has ultimate authority.

ORHA's mission is to provide humanitarian assistance, work on reconstructing Iraq and prepare for the eventual creation of an interim government by the Iraqis themselves.

General Garner's team, which also includes some British civil servants, is preparing to cross into Iraq to overhaul everything from the country's currency - which features the likeness of Saddam Hussein - to power supplies, legal code, police service and schools.

It will also have the considerable task of establishing democratic institutions in a country that has never known them.

JG: I think you begin with a British hand and an American hand but you can rapidly pull that hand back if they're willing to take the throttle themselves - which we hope that they do. So I think you'll see it in various stages - some places we'll keep sort of a guiding hand or friendly hand in things a little longer than other places. It will be up to the Iraqi people.

LM: Maybe you can give me an idea of how you go about doing this? How do you rebuild a nation that is an old as civilisation itself, that's diametrically different from your own country but one that has dissolved at the hands of your country through this coalition? This is a very complicated job you've got.

JG: The first thing I think is you don't try to build it in the image of your own country. You open it to the people and you begin a dialogue with the people and let them begin a dialogue with themselves. As you do that, the leaders will emerge and I think they'll take charge.

LM: When you say you don't try to build it in the image of your own country, what will be different? What are the expectations that you're finding that may not be met?

I don't have a timeline. We're in a process of trying to rebuild a country and rebuild human beings

Jay Garner

JG: I think that's a good question. They haven't had a democratic process, they haven't been free, they haven't been able to think for themselves - everything's been top down. This is going to be a new process for them and we're going to get them started on this and then I think they'll sort it out for themselves. I don't know what their expectations are but we'll find out and we'll try to meet those expectations and where we can't we'll work something out with them.

LM: What are your own expectations? I mean you've got a lot to do, you're only giving yourself three months to do it. What do you want to accomplish in that time?

JG: No I'm giving myself more than three months - if it takes more than three months. You know I don't have a time line. We're in a process here of trying to rebuild a country and trying to rebuild human beings at the same time and I don't think you put a calendar on that.

LM: I guess I'm wondering how you go about creating a democracy and, as you suggest, it may not be a democracy as we know it. But how do you go about doing that in a country without democratic traditions? Literally what are the steps to it?

JG: Well the first step is get them all together and start talking about it. And that's what tomorrow is [Tuesday's meeting in Nasiriya] - a meeting not of the principals but a level or two just below the principals.

To begin to work the process and begin to answer some of the questions; and talk about how do you do a democratic process; and how do we bring everybody together; and how do we get the people from inside Iraq that have never done this before; and how do we mix them with people who have been outside of Iraq for the last few years. So tomorrow's the first tile in the mosaic.

LM: Does that tile include, for instance, humanitarian aid or is that somebody else's role?

Civilisation began here and democracy is going to start here for the Iraqis

Jay Garner

JG: That's our role, humanitarian aid. All those tiles are going to be fit by the Iraqi people - at the end of that mosaic hopefully you have a democratic government or a government that at least expresses the freely-elected will of the people.

You know, I'm sitting right here in the cradle of civilisation - this is where civilisation began, right here where I am today. It's incredible. I was looking at it as the sun went down. And civilisation began here and tomorrow democracy is going to start here for the Iraqis - it's overwhelming and they'll not miss this opportunity.

LM: Do you feel bound, in terms of your responsibilities on the ground there, by the Geneva Conventions and by the Hague Conventions in terms of what happens? Is that something that you are watching yourself in how things are carried out there?

JG: Well I think the coalition is bound by the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions. We're a very moralistic society and a very honourable society.

I mean you've never seen a campaign waged the way this was with everything going against them - attacking on one front, limited to that, yet they minimised damage to the infrastructure - they made sure the oil fields weren't damaged ... they tried to protect the water lines. They did as little collateral damage as they possibly could. It was probably the most merciful war or campaign ever conducted. So sure, we always follow the rules.

The retired American general given the task of leading an interim administration to begin rebuilding Iraq has arrived in war-torn Baghdad.

Jay Garner said on arrival at Baghdad airport that getting basic services back up and running was his priority for the city, whose residents have become increasingly restless about the lack of water and electricity.

But as these services are resumed, correspondents say attention will also turn to how long the US plans to keep its personnel in Iraq.

Groups representing the majority Shia Muslim population have already said they will not co-operate with a US administration, and resentment is reported to be growing towards the international forces in charge of the country.

Iraq is to be divided into three zones by the interim civil administration headed by the retired American general Jay Garner, whose staff have just established a foothold in the far south of Iraq.

Speaking a day after a team from Mr Garner's Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) arrived in the port of Umm Qasr, a spokesman said the first priority was to bring in aid. "In many ways we are learning as we go," said Major Jeff Jurgensen, one of about 30 officials drawn from US government departments who will set up ORHA's southern region. Other teams will run the central and northern zones.