Plan Drafted for Allied Occupation of Iraq City : Strategy: A U.S. officer says it is ‘possible’ that forces might seek to capture Basra to cut off supply lines.

U.S. experts have drafted a plan for installing a joint civilian-military government in the southern Iraqi port city of Basra in what officials say is preparation for the possibility of a partial allied occupation of Iraq.

The existence of the government plan, disclosed by a U.S. Army civil affairs officer, appears to demonstrate that in the process of liberating Kuwait there are some scenarios in which parts of Iraq could fall temporarily under allied control.

Though military officials have refused to discuss such scenarios publicly, one U.S. officer said it is “possible” that allied forces might seek to capture the bustling port city in order to cut off supply lines to Iraqi troops in Kuwait--especially critical during a battle for control of Kuwait city.

Basra, a major deep-water port and supply center for Iraqi forces, was badly battered during the eight years of the Iran-Iraq War and has come under renewed pounding during the month-old allied air offensive in an attempt to isolate Iraqi troops in Kuwait.

Capturing an Iraqi city of 1 million residents would not only cut off a major source of supplies but “would present a tremendous psychological advantage--that’s a big city,” a U.S. Army official said.

Another officer, Maj. Chris Batchelder of the Army’s 3rd Armored Division, told combat pool reporters that civil affairs experts have developed a civil-military government plan for administering Basra if it is captured.

Allied forces have not ruled out the possibility of moving through parts of Iraq in order to confront Iraqi troops in Kuwait in their most vulnerable positions. But military authorities have refused to discuss whether allied forces would actually occupy parts of Iraq for any extended period.

“The objective is to remove the Iraqis from Kuwait. Nothing has been officially said as to moving into Iraq,” said Capt. Ralph Scott, a U.S. Army spokesman in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. “That would be a speculative type of answer.”

Critics of the allied offensive have raised the specter of an allied occupation of Iraq as an indication that the allies are exceeding their mandate to liberate Kuwait and are seeking to destroy the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Diplomatic sources have said that an allied occupation of Basra would probably be more trouble than it was worth. However, they have said there is a real possibility that coalition forces might capture and hold important supply and communications facilities in southern Iraq.

Batchelder declined to say if there were government plans that envision a possible allied occupation of Baghdad. “No matter how I answer that, that will tell you part of the (combat) plan,” he said.

Detailed plans have been drafted for installing interim civilian-military governments and aiding civilian populations in areas of Kuwait as they are freed from Iraqi occupation, military authorities said.

Hundreds of civil affairs experts are stationed in Saudi Arabia, preparing to move north into Kuwait to evacuate some civilians ahead of a military advance in a ground war.

Guidelines have been drafted to separate Iraqi agents or sympathizers from other civilians. Those deemed security risks will be handled as prisoners of war, said Maj. Frederick Phillips, a civil affairs expert in the 3rd Armored Division.

Most evacuated civilians will be moved to a collection point in the rear and released, Phillips said. Civilians killed during the offensive will be buried where they are found, he said.

Kuwaiti officials have said they will not permit Kuwaiti exiles to return during the initial 90-day period after liberation when basic services are being restored.

In that interim period, it is likely that allied military authorities will oversee the government in a coalition with Kuwait’s government in exile, military and diplomatic sources said.

“Once you fulfill the military objective and achieve a more or less stable environment in which to operate, then you will have participation of the military folks in consultation with the government of Kuwait,” a Western diplomat said.

“It’s basically a means to assure that there’s law and order there,” he said. “One has to assume the place is going to be reasonably devastated, and it would take some time to get things functioning.”