WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- A group of Republican senators Thursday expressed frustration at elements of the Bush administration they said are trying to play favorites among Iraqi opposition groups who may have a role in governing post-war Iraq.
Five senators, including Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Republican Conference Chairman Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., criticized parts of the Bush administration for playing favorites among Iraqi opposition groups -- decisions that they said should be left to the Iraqi people.
"There has been a constant battle over how and who the U.S. should support in terms of possible post-Saddam leaders," Brownback said. "Unfortunately, this issue has clouded our ability to agree on something basic: those who oppose Saddam with us should be empowered at this critical time to make a difference with their countrymen."
In this case the senators, joined by Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Norm Coleman, R-Minn., focused their ire on the State Department. The Republicans said the State Department has withheld $4 million to the Iraqi National Congress to help them communicate with citizens inside Iraq via cell phones, satellite phones and links to radio and TV broadcasting capabilities.
The group of senators complained to Bush about the issue in a letter sent on Monday. The State Department this week agreed to release the funds first appropriated by Congress in fiscal year 2001.
Among the various Iraqi opposition groups, the Iraq National Congress has been particularly unpopular among State Department officials and some of the military brass, while the INC enjoys the support of high-level civilian leaders at the Pentagon.
"The problem isn't with the Oval Office and it isn't with the White House. It is with the State Department," Santorum said. "There was one group being singled our for non-support. My feeling is, let all flowers bloom."
Experts on the Middle East said there is squabbling among Bush administration officials over which Iraqi groups are best qualified to lead a post-war Iraq and remain sensitive to U.S. interests in the region. "Given the (limited) depth of leadership alternatives, you want to develop some without developing others that are counter to U.S. interests," said Daniel Byman, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
The bickering in the U.S. government continues. While the White House has asked Congress to give the Pentagon $2.5 billion in a supplemental appropriations bill moving through Congress for developing post-war Iraq, there is a push in Congress to hand the money instead to the State Department. That bill is still under construction.
Brownback predicted a "vigorous debate" over which department would get the funds.
