U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Political Transformation in Occupation: Lustration and Recasting Society
Abstract
The relative performance of the U.S. Army toward political transformation and deprogramming during occupation warfare by re-casting society and lustration of key public and private influencers through de-Ba'athification in Iraq in 2003 was not effective as compared to denazification efforts in Germany from 1944-1946. The discontinuous performance occurred because senior Iraq war planners and leaders did not appreciate the importance and sensitive nature of political transformations in post-war stability efforts to consolidate gains. Consequently, leaders missed an opportunity to leverage the Civil Affairs Regiment's access to the population, relationships with the interagency, and understanding of the human domain to affect political transformation. Additionally, the command structure was inappropriate to execute a program of such complexity. These oversights created a missed opportunity to integrate Civil Affairs units into political transformation. Nonetheless, U.S. Army Civil Affairs forces, at times without guidance, supported and executed political transformation activities toward liberal democratization. Also, central to the episode was the leadership of CA leaders at all echelons, as well as that of General Lucius D. Clay in Germany and L. Paul Bremer in Iraq, the respective occupation administrators.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 09, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1038687
Entities
People
- Matthew A. George
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College