U.S. Prepares Provisional Iraqi Government

By Mike Shuster

Published April 6, 2003 at 11:00 PM CDT

The United States is getting ready to start a provisional civil administration for post-Saddam Iraq. It will be headed by a retired general who is sitting in Kuwait with a staff of advisers waiting for the green light to fly to Baghdad. Beyond that, the Pentagon has also flown a controversial exiled Iraqi leader and several hundred of his followers to Nasiriyah, Iraq, to add a loyal Iraqi component to the future administration. NPR's Mike Shuster reports.

Mike Shuster

Mike Shuster is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent and roving foreign correspondent for NPR News. He is based at NPR West, in Culver City, CA. When not traveling outside the U.S., Shuster covers issues of nuclear non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and the Pacific Rim.