The Reports
all are in Acrobat/PDF format

Overview | 60 pgs | 2 meg

Transitional Justice | 248 pgs | 12 meg

Democratic Principles and Procedures | 212 pgs | 10.2 meg

Water, Agriculture, and Environment | 21 pgs | 850 K

Public Health and Humanitarian Needs | 64 pgs | 4.4 meg

Defense Policy and Institutions | 73 pgs | 3.2 meg

Local Government | 144 pgs | 1.7 meg

Economy and Infrastructure (Public Finance) | 198 pgs | 9.5 meg

Civil Society Capacity Building | 37 pgs | 1.3 meg

Transparency and Anti-Corruption Measures | 170 pgs | 6.5 meg

Education | 8 pgs | 330 K

Free Media | 18 pgs | 900 K

Oil and Energy | 94 pgs | 3.9 meg

Introduction
Russ Kick

>>> Starting in October 2001, about a year and a half before the US and its allies invaded Iraq, the State Department spearheaded an effort called the Future of Iraq Project. Dozens of Iraqi exiles and international experts were brought together to figure out how to create a new Iraq should Saddam Hussein somehow be taken out of power.

Within the project, seventeen working groups covered such areas as the justice system, local government, agriculture, media, education, and oil. The various working groups began meeting in July 2002 and continued through March/April 2003. Twelve of the groups released reports. The project cost $5 million.

The project's observations and recommendations were almost wholly ignored by the administration during its pre-war planning for the occupation. Soon after the invasion, though, CD-ROMs of the reports were sent to the staff of the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Among other things, the working groups foresaw the widespread looting in the aftermath of invasion and warned against quickly disbanding the Iraqi Army.

The project's reports have never been made available to the public. In October 2003, "Congressional officials" allowed two New York Times reporters to view the reports, but they were not allowed to take them. Upon reading this, I immediately filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the reports, which was granted in February 2006. Eight of the reports were released in their entirety, while the rest were redacted to some degree. I have scanned them and created a PDF file of each report, all of which are posted to the left.

More Info

State Dept. Study Foresaw Trouble Now Plaguing Iraq (New York Times). "A yearlong State Department study predicted many of the problems that have plagued the American-led occupation of Iraq, according to internal State Department documents and interviews with administration and Congressional officials."

State Department experts warned CENTCOM before Iraq war about lack of plans for post-war Iraq security (National Security Archive)

Future of Iraq Project (SourceWatch)

Preparing for Post-Saddam Iraq: Plans and Actions by Charles Patterson. Written by a member of the Future of Iraq Project. "One failing of the project was that State, perhaps due to insularity, did not insist that other key agencies, DoD, CIA, and NSC, be forced to buy into the planning. A cynic might say that plan was only given to State to distract it from the plan to invade and occupy Iraq."

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