As a two-star wing commander, he said his goal “from the very beginning was to go in and remove the regime, find Saddam Hussein and take him and his regime people out, and treat the people of Iraq with dignity. That was always the goal, and everyone under my command knows it.”

The general said US aims were not to try to dismantle Iraq, nor to destroy homes and villages. “We worked very diligently not to destroy the infrastructure of Iraq. We only went after the Iraqi Army and those who wanted to fight. But everything else, we worked painfully to try to preserve.”

When asked about worries that “the foxes might return to the chicken coop” when the US leaves, Gen. Amos, 56, admitted the situation requires “a balancing act.”

“On one hand we’re told by all our political advisers that the presence of US forces is anathema to the Arabs,” he said. “It’s best not to be seen, to do our business and get out.” He said he understood this. “Personally, I’ve tried to imagine an enormous military force entering San Diego, California, driving down my street and suddenly seeing armored vehicles driving by with people in strange uniforms, speaking a language I’m not familiar with, and practicing a different religion from mine. So I am sympathetic to them.” Because of this, the general said he is very anxious “that we leave before we outstay our welcome.”

Recently back from Baghdad, he said most people on the streets greeted them. “Almost everyone waved at us — but when will that turn to folded arms and a look away?” For this reason, he said it is imperative to get the infrastructure of the country working again. Electricity has recently returned, he said, but other problems remain.

“There’s an enormous understanding that some fundamental goodwill is needed to try to win the confidence and trust of the Iraqi people. You can’t just occupy their country and leave them without power, water and an infrastructure to pick up trash and dispose of sewage.”

But they are faced with many competing demands. “We’ve got to stop the looting, find the remainder of the regime, fight through parts of the city where there are still little pockets of Saddam’s ‘fedayeen’. And we’ve got to restore power and get water running again.”

Law and order is also needed on the streets — but whom to trust? “We have to hire them, and get the right people. So there’s a huge effort to make all that happen.”

Asked when the American forces should consider leaving Iraq, the general admitted he hasn’t a clue. “I’m just a military officer. I’m sensitive to this, but I’m not smart enough to figure it out.”

What needs to happen, he said, is to root out the remnants of the regime. “And not necessarily just the regime, but also some of the ‘eccentrics’ coming from outside Iraq.”

The Iraqis must have the opportunity to rule themselves, he said. “The US Marine Corps has no business remaining in Iraq, that’s not our job. We’re not trained, or established, to do nation building. That’s not our role.”

Many European countries are good at nation-building and peace-keeping, he said, citing their accomplishments in Kosovo.

The general expressed great hopes for Iraq.

“The people there aren’t looking for a handout; they just want the opportunity to get back to work. And we need to be able to provide it for them. Give them enough opportunities, keep the thugs and the hoodlums and the carpetbaggers out, and they will figure out how to rule the country.”

Reminded that the US had not found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the general said he could understand “why the rest of the world might be a bit nervous about this.” But he is not worried. “We may not have found the big storehouse, or the mobile trucks (full of chemical weapons), but if I apply the rule of common sense to this thing, I’m absolutely confident that they’re there because we know he used them, and killed thousands of Iraqis. That is well-documented.”

Saddam Hussein also continued to stockpile weapons, said Gen. Amos, adding his men found an enormous weapons cache in Al-Nassiriyah only last week. “We found 50,000 150mm shells of 150mm ammunition — to store that amount would take up almost an entire air base. There is ammunition all over Iraq, so Saddam hasn’t got nicer in the last 13 years.”

The general believes the world community will eventually find Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. “The US has not yet found them because we’ve only been on the ground in Iraq for about four weeks, and the first three weeks were spent fighting pretty hard. And when you’re fighting hard, you don’t really have time to root around the countryside.”

An effort is currently under way to look for those weapons, he said. “We’ll find them, I’m confident of that. And when we do, I hope the rest of the world will say: ‘Okay, that was justified, now we understand.’”

Turning to Syria and some nations’ concerns that Damascus may be next in a standoff with America, the general said he strongly doubted it. “We don’t have a history of invading countries. That’s not the way we do business.” Diplomacy is what is needed, he said.

“There’s lots of room, by the way, for diplomacy. And I mean lots of room. I believe the State Department and our administration are going to exercise every aspect of international diplomacy. The result of these coming Syrian-US talks may well prove beneficial for both countries,” he said. “I think we’re going to be pleased at how this turns out. My instinct is that the relationship between America and Syria will grow stronger as a result of this.”

The general returned to Iraq again. “One of the fundamental reasons why I sleep well at night is because I know we came into this country with honorable intentions. And right from the beginning, I made sure that all the Marines and sailors who work for me understood that. What I believe in my heart is that we came in honorably, fought this war honorably, and will help rebuild this nation with honorable intentions. We don’t want to occupy this country and we don’t want the wealth of this country. We want the wealth of this country to belong to the Iraqi people, and the wealth of this country has not gone to the Iraqi people for the last 25 years because one man kept this country destitute.”