Scenes of liberation could soon give way to anger and distrust if the Iraqi people do not play a real role in rebuildng their country.

Linday Jennings looks at wha's next for Iraq.

THEY were meant to be liberators, not conquerors. But as the emotional young US Marine clambered onto the bronze statue of Saddam Hussein and proudly draped the American flag over the former Iraqi president's unsmiling features, the Arab world could be forgiven for thinking otherwise.

It may have been a foolhardy action, a moment of patriotism at a time of extreme emotion in Baghdad's Paradise Square. The symbol of Western dominance and one of the most powerful nations in the world was swiftly removed and replaced with a pre-Gulf War Iraqi flag. But it was a sign, beamed around the world, of how delicate the process will be to unite a post-war Iraq. The brief gesture will have been enough to enrage the Arab world at a time when there is not just a country to be structurally and economically rebuilt, there is trust to be earned.

The way to go about the process is not by being authoritarian, say Gareth Wardell and Sultan Barakat of York University's Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU).

Says Dr Barakat, director of the PRDU: "Lessons learnt from all over the world in the last 20 years show that running reconstruction activities like a military campaign, from the top down, are expensive, unsustainable and ineffective. The sort of approach to development which we read about at present, where the US - or perhaps even the UN - imposes systems and procedures from the top which have been planned in a vacuum in Washington, are unlikely to work."

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced yesterday that an interim American authority would be set up in southern Iraq within days. While there are no plans for a major national conference on the future of the country, he said Coalition commanders would be working with local groups in communities before the possibility of a more representative conference for the country in the future.

THE PRDU has a great deal of experience in rebuilding war-torn countries. During recent months they have provided training for senior civil servants and members of the new Afghan government and have extensive experience in countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. Gareth Wardell is a Research Fellow in the PRDU and says one of the key priorities for the interim administration will be to stem the scenes of looting and chaos and restore law and order, with the Coalition forces taking responsibility for policing and the provision of initial security.

Says Mr Wardell: "There is clearly a need to restore law and order before it degenerates further and as the occupying presence that has to be done as quickly as possible by the Coalition troops.

"The looting is a reflection of people's drive to attack symbols of the fallen regime, but the danger is that if law and order isn't restored fairly quickly we will see reprisal killings. There are lots of scores to settle in Iraq and the sooner they are settled through due processes and not by a gun, the better.

"The "how" of post-war reconstruction is as important, if not more important, than the "what". It's not about constructing roads and new buildings it's about the processes. The more that people are participants rather than recipients, the greater the likelihood they will have ownership of the actions they have taken, which means more sustainability for the long term future."

These processes include not imposing a Western democracy on the people of Iraq, along with liberal economic policies. This is a country, after all, which has been used to having state provision, including free health care and free education. A quick move towards a template of privatisation is likely to be met with much resistance.

The other key priorities, say Wardell and Barakat, include lifting the sanctions which have crippled the country for 12 years. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq is a potentially wealthy nation with large oil reserves, agricultural wealth, a highly-educated workforce, significant high-tech industries and a highly developed infrastructure. Lifting sanctions will help the country achieve its potential, they say. But this must come with the provision of short-term, targeted humanitarian assistance.

Says Mr Wardell: "There's a danger when you get stuck into humanitarian relief that the market is flooded with imported food which people don't actually need. It can depress the local agricultural economy. There needs to be a carefully maintained approach to ensure humanitarian assistance is targeted to meet real needs."

The pair say that to rebuild Iraqi (and general Arab) trust in the international community there need to be "visible acts" of confidence building, such as prisoner exchanges and acts of commemoration for the dead Iraqis who have fought for their country. Iraq is awash with weapons, and Mr Wardell predicts there will be "pockets of disorder" and areas of fighting for weeks to come.

'IT'S going to be vital to be even-handed with all Iraq's ethnic and social groups and that everyone feels they have a stake in the new post-war Iraq," he says.

"At the moment, people are willing to give the Americans the benefit of the doubt. There's collaboration at the end of a regime, but we shouldn't interpret that as a welcome for a Western regime. I think there will be toleration for something which is very short term, but the sooner the Iraqis become involved, the better.

"There is also a need to gain the trust of the wider Arab world. Whatever the official stance of many Arab governments the reality is that the view from Arab states is overwhelmingly anti-American. That situation is only entrenched when they see the US flag draped over Saddam Hussein."

The pair believe there are already shortcomings in plans for a post-war Iraq. These include the lack of an identified Iraqi government in exile to fill the power vacuum quickly. Also, they feel the Coalition forces will be unprepared to handle the security needs of Iraq in addition to their combat duties.

Says Mr Wardell: "In terms of the economic and social well-being of the Iraqi people, there has been no discussion of debt-restructuring, delays in issuing licences to humanitarian agencies and little planning on the management of Iraqi oil revenues by Iraqis.

"It is vital that the UK and the US demonstrate commitment and integrity to their stated aim of building a strong, stable and democratic Iraq. What we need to see now - and we haven't seen yet - is a commitment to grass-roots approaches which strengthen and build on the capacities of Iraqi civil society.

"This, after all, will be the essential foundation for a functioning democracy."