Rice to Lead Effort To Speed Iraqi Aid

[cthrumatrix]

Rice to Lead Effort To Speed Iraqi Aid

By Peter Slevin and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, October 7, 2003; Page A01


President Bush announced yesterday that the White House will take a stronger role in overseeing the struggling effort to rebuild Iraq through a new group intended to speed the flow of money and staff to Baghdad and streamline decision-making in Washington.

The purpose of the new Iraq Stabilization Group is to "crack the whip, frankly," said a senior administration official, who described a sense of urgency amid persistent trouble in Iraq and polls showing declining confidence in Bush.

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"We're basically trying to figure out how it relates to the other 500 committees going on," a State Department official said. "It was not greeted as a major statement of interagency relations. We'll just see if it works."

This official said a stronger hand exerted by Rice could prove helpful in obtaining faster answers on such matters as spending, staffing and policy. But several officials and analysts noted that the groups are unlikely to solve the thorniest problems, which will continue to require decisions by Cabinet secretaries and their deputies. Consensus among them has often proved elusive, and Rice has often struggled to produce results.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53560-2003Oct6.html