Following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, President George W. Bush's administration faces the task of helping to rebuild Iraq physically, economically and politically.
"In having decided to go to war against Saddam Hussein's regime, we have taken on a very big obligation," Vice Provost for International Affairs William Quandt said. "We now have to see through not only the physical rebuilding of Iraq, which is a huge undertaking, but also try to create situations for Iraqis to develop a decent government."
The Bush administration has yet to make any definite decisions for the future structuring of the Iraqi government, such as whether or not to involve the United Nations, some of whose members strongly opposed U.S. policy on Iraq.
"We should try and not have it become an exclusively American project, but an Iraqi and international project in which we will play an important part," Quandt said. "We're not trying to build a little American outpost."
Bush has been under fire recently after sending retired Army Lt. Jay M. Garner to lead the reconstruction effort in Iraq. Garner quickly clarified his purpose in Iraq, said W. Taylor Fain, assistant professor in the Miller Center for Public Affairs.
"Garner is trying to get Iraqi life functioning -- roads and electricity and clean water readily available, and hospitals restocked," he said. "He's taken a lot of pains to define his role as narrowly as possible."
New criticisms have arisen about the financial obligation to rebuild Iraq.
"If the project is less exclusively American, it will be easier for Iraqis to see this as being for the good of the country and not for the United States," Quandt said.
Politics Prof. Larry Sabato addressed the next steps for Bush to take.
"Politically, Bush will try to set up an interim government as quickly as possible and spend as little American taxpayer dollars as possible," Sabato said. "The question that Democrats in 2004 will inevitably ask is 'Why is George Bush putting more time and effort into restoring the Iraqi economy than the American economy?'"
The question of funding for the rebuilding of Iraq may concern American taxpayers.
"My guess is that Americans would prefer the U.N. to be spending its money instead of Americans spending ours," Sabato said.
Iraqi reconstruction will require much time and effort that the average American may not be willing to endure.
"I'm not sure that the average American cares enough to hang in there with the expenses and commitment," Quandt said. "In the news it's dropping off the front page, and when that happens are we going to spend more on Iraq than on the total foreign aid?"
Even with U.N. aid, the U.S. will have to shoulder the greater part of the financial burden, Quandt said.
Yet a country as oil-rich as Iraq might be able to provide financial support, said W. Nathaniel Howell, director of the Institute of Global Policy Research.
"A lot of it can be paid for by Iraq," Howell said. "It is a very prosperous nation, and [reconstruction] can be paid for by its own oil."
Until the Bush administration makes a definite decision on the fate of the Iraqi government, U.S. officials will continue to work on the physical restoration of Iraqi life.
"The longer the U.S. stays in Iraq, the more resented it will be," Fain said. "The trick is to get this done as quickly as possible with as little political backlash as possible from Iraqis."
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