Top U.S. Advisors on Iraq Arrive in Qatar
The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Richard Myers, flew in with Paul Bremer, the newly appointed senior civilian administrator of Iraq, AFP reported.
Bremer, a former State Department official and expert on terrorism, outranks Jay Garner, the retired army lieutenant general who has been the most senior U.S. civilian in Iraq.
Garner was also in Doha on Sunday to see Bremer, the officials said.
On the flight, Myers told reporters that Iraq's military will be smaller than it was under the ousted dictator, but still large enough to defend the country from outside threats.
Myers, speaking aboard an air force C-17 cargo plane flying from Washington to Qatar, said that the republican guard and other special units with close ties to Saddam's Baath Party will have no role in post-war Iraq. "They're history," Myers said. "Those entities will go away."
However some Iraqi Army regulars who fought against coalition forces may be allowed to join a reorganized military, Myers said, adding that all Iraqi soldiers in the new force will be vetted.
Some sort of Iraqi Air Force also may be reconstituted from what survived the war, said Myers, who also noted the country has a legitimate need for a small coast guard.
Myers traveled to Doha to meet with Qatari officials and to greet U.S. troops stationed there.
He is the senior military advisor to President George W. Bush and to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but is not in the chain of command for conducting military operations.
Myers was due to give a press conference in Doha later Sunday, but neither Garner nor Bremer were scheduled to meet Qataris, the U.S. officials said.
Qatar's stock has risen in the United States following the decision to transfer U.S. airborne headquarters in the Persian Gulf to the emirate from neighboring Saudi Arabia.
It also hosted U.S. central command during the Iraq war, following Saudi opposition to bases in the kingdom being used to invade another Arab country.