In Interview On Arabic Television

*In an interview on an Arabic television program in Dubai, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that in the case of a war, there would be only a brief period of rule over Iraq by a US military leader, so as to ensure order. He said the US wanted to rebuild Iraq, not to destroy it. As soon as possible, he said, the military administration would transfer its authority to a civilian one. (Apparently this is to be a US civilian proconsul, a la Lord Cromer in British Egypt, though the US says it will be just for a year or two until an Iraqi government can be implemented). Powell, when asked if the US was implementing a form of imperialism, said the US has a track record in this regard. He denied that the US is occupying Afghanistan, and pointed to its record after WW II in Japan, Germany and Italy. This reply does not seem to me very convincing, since the question is whether the new doctrine of aggressive preemption is changing those past policies.