Dornan Says U.S., Allies Should Seize Iraqi Oil Fields : Reparations: The Garden Grove congressman wants billions in revenues to rebuild Kuwait and for families of American casualties. He says occupiers must be Arabs.

An Orange County congressman just back from the Mideast suggested Tuesday that the United States and its Arab allies seize oil fields in southern Iraq to finance billions of dollars in war reparations for Kuwait and the families of Americans killed or tortured by Iraqi soldiers.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) said the United States, after the defeat of the Iraqi army, should arrange for Arab forces to assume control of Iraq’s vast Rumaylah oil field, just north of the Kuwaiti border. The field is directly in the path of invading American and French troops that were moving Tuesday to confront units of Iraq’s Republican Guard.

Military officials and members of the Bush Administration repeatedly have said that the United States and its coalition allies have no intention of a long-term occupation of Iraqi territory. Others suggested that a move to seize control of the oil field might be illegal under international law.

Nevertheless, Dornan said, “I just don’t see, with our guys occupying the major oil fields in Iraq, that we are going to turn it back to them, and say, ‘Now, on your honor’ ” pay war reparations. The payment of reparations by Iraq is called for in one of the dozen United Nations resolutions passed last year.

A member of both the House Armed Services and Intelligence committees, Dornan returned late Monday from an 11-day tour of NATO bases in Europe. The trip included a three-day visit to a NATO air installation in Turkey that serves as a base for U.S. aircraft flying combat missions against targets in Iraq. Dornan was at the base Sunday when pilots returned from their first missions after the onset of the allied ground offensive in Iraq and Kuwait.

Dornan declined to identify the air field. However, Incirlik Air Base in southern Turkey, about 60 miles west of the Syrian border, is the only U.S. tactical air installation between Italy and the Far East.

Despite the Bush Administration’s official position, Dornan said he expects that some sort of Arab peacekeeping force will be required to occupy parts of southern Iraq for months or years following the end of the ground war.

“If you look at what (the Iraqis) did . . . destroying Kuwait as they pulled out . . . it’s clear that the Rumaylah oil field should be taken over in some sort of U.N. trust situation, and all of its oil production should go to the rebuilding of Kuwait until the books are balanced,” Dornan said.

The United States could not play a role in any occupying force, Dornan said, because of the deep resentment that might be engendered across the Arab world. Instead, he said, “it’s going to have to be people of the Islamic faith who control the occupied zone.” Forces from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and possibly Egypt might fulfill such a role, he said.

In addition to paying war reparations to Kuwait, proceeds from the Rumaylah field also could be used to reimburse other victims of Iraqi aggression, including the families of Americans killed in action or of prisoners of war tortured by the Iraqi army. “We may get down to making them pay reparations for the loss of every person’s life,” he said.

Dornan said he plans to float the proposal in Congress, which might well be in a mood to insist on some form of postwar sanctions. On Tuesday, for example, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) declared: “There will be no letup, no cease fire, no timeouts until Saddam Hussein himself raises the white flag.”

Dornan, a former peacetime Air Force fighter pilot, described his visit to the air base in Turkey as an emotional experience. He said he sat in on early-morning briefings as pilots prepared for the raids over Iraq. Over the weekend, Dornan said, “you could feel the buildup” toward the ground offensive, which was launched early Sunday morning, Iraqi time.

The reaction of the pilots to the onset of the ground war was one of relief, Dornan said. “They knew now that they were supporting the men on the ground, even if their mission was not over Kuwait.”

On Sunday, after the ground war began, Dornan said he stopped a pilot as the airman was about to climb out of his fighter. Dressed in a flight suit, Dornan clambered up the ladder to the cockpit and stuck out a hand.

The pilot, Dornan recalled, thought he was about to get dressed-down for a sloppy landing. Instead, Dornan told him: “Hello. I’m a California congressman sent here by (Secretary of Defense) Dick Cheney to welcome you back from your first flight since the ground campaign began.”

The pilot, Dornan said, “couldn’t believe it.”