By K. Lavery, KWMU
Washington, D.C. – As Iraqi resistance to coalition forces continues to wear away, the US is starting to shift focus towards rebuilding the country once the fighting ends.
Missouri Republican Congressman Todd Akin says he believes Congress will play an advisory role to President Bush in that effort, and that it's his hope that coalition partners, not the United Nations, will aid the reconstruction.
I'm certainly hoping that we don't sort of go out of the kettle and into the fire; get rid of Saddam and then end up with some ineffective organizational structure imposed by the U.N.," Akin said. "I'm not that convinced they're very effective.
As an example, Akin cites the former Yugoslavia, where he says the UN did a poor job in rebuilding after a series of ethnic clashes.