Suspicion greets US general with a country to rebuild

Wrapped in impenetrable sunglasses and matching self-confidence, the retired US Lieutenant-General with the job of resolving the mess of post-war Iraq ventured into Baghdad for the first time yesterday.

The event was laden with significance for Iraqis, who view Jay Garner, 65, with deep suspicion, not least because of his pro-Israel record but also because many, particularly Islamic groups, have no wish to be governed by an old soldier they view as a colonialist.

It was a key moment in the American and British campaign against Iraq, fought in defiance of the views of much of the world. As the gum-chewing general planted his sturdy brown shoes on the soil of the city that was so recently ruled by Saddam Hussein, there was a sense that a new chapter was about to begin.

Predictably dressed in khaki, the general – head of the so-called Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) – flew into Iraq from Kuwait in a C-130 transport plane as the sun was rising. From the moment he arrived, he was talking the talk, undeterred by the continued shootings in Baghdad, looting, arson, power shortages, anti-American demonstrations, the creeping return of junior Baathists and Shia moves to take control their own neighbourhoods in the vacuum left by the regime's collapse.

There was no sign of any concern about the US's failure so far to capture the dictator and most of his top men or to find any chemical weapons – the ostensible reason for the war that has delivered him his new job.

This was "a great day", he declared. Iraq was "one of the brightest, most vibrant, richest societies in the world" and place that once "set the standards for the entire world".

He continued – oblivious of the fury felt by Iraqis over the failure of US troops to protect their cultural and historical treasures and ministries from destruction – "Civilisation began here. Government began here. Laws began here. What we need to do ... is to give birth to a new system in Iraq. It begins with us working together, but it is hard work and it takes a long time. We will help you as long as you want us to." The "coalition" forces had already "done an awful lot here".

Huge issues now face the American general and his supporters in the Pentagon, White House and Downing Street – such as how to create the kind of Iraqi government that will serve their interests.

As he swept into the battered, rubbish-strewn city in a four-wheel-drive vehicle followed by a convoy of nine US Humvees equipped with 50mm heavy machine-guns, the general had more mundane and immediate matters on his mind: power, water and health care.

His schedule was clearly tailored to show that he was here to deal with practical matters – a visit to a hospital, a knocked-out power plant and a sewage works. Watched by largely impassive passers-by – although there were a few smiles and waves – he went to the 700-bed Yarmouk Hospital in south-west Baghdad, which like many others is partially damaged by the bombing and post-war looting. Among his party was Tim Cross, Britain's highest-ranking delegate in the ORHA.

The welcome was less than ecstatic. "I want to cry," said a doctor who gave her name as Iman after listening to the general make a presentation to around 100 medical staff and students. "Saddam Hussein was an unjust ruler, but maybe one day we could have got rid of him, and not had these foreigners come in to our country."

The general had no sooner received an official welcome speech from the hospital director than he was confronted by the head of surgery, Mohammed Alwan, pointing out that his staff did not want foreigners to take their jobs. "All of us are capable of doing our work; most were trained in the US and UK," he said.

Dr Luay al-Hafidh, a specialist doctor, elicited nodding heads from colleagues when he said: "We don't think lightly about an American general running Iraq. He's a foreigner running our country. This is the usual talk of a foreign invader at the beginning in order to gain the hearts of the people."

Scepticism ran deep, but it was not universal. "He talks well, we feel we are free to express ourselves, not like the bad one, the previous one," said Dr Saad Mohammed.