As the country gears up for the likelihood of war against Iraq, U.S. military and civilian officials also are plotting strategy for rebuilding a post-Saddam Hussein war-torn country. Such a strategy will take almost as much careful planning as the military campaign. It could also mean billions of dollars in work for engineering and construction firms. The Bush administration's plans for reconstructing Iraq have a two-part goal―win additional support for the war by showing the humanitarian effort that will follow and getting the rebuilding started as soon as possible. To underscore its commit-ment, the White House since September has quietly put together an interagency team to coordinate those efforts. "We have never had nearly five months advance time before a major emergency, should it happen," says Andrew Natsios, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and a veteran of the first Bush administration. "We don't know what's going to happen, but contingency planning is what this is all about."
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