The 64-year-old Garner, who has been called a governor-in-waiting, the new sheriff of Baghdad and various other epithets, has been keeping a low profile in Kuwait while the US Army finishes its work and the US administration wrangles over how to run Iraq.

Garner knows Iraq and he knows about war so he has credentials for this delicate task. But the three-star general has also come under fire for his links to defense industry and his ardent pro-Israel stance.

Garner is on leave from SY Technology to head the US Defense Department's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq, working under the head of the US Central Command, General Tommy Franks, who will be Iraq's immediate post-war ruler.

He will have to make sure humanitarian assistance reaches the hardest hit and to prepare the ground for a civilian -- Iraqi -- interim authority.

Garner is a personal friend of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was an assistant deputy chief of staff during the 1991 Gulf War, and directed several major Defense Department programs including the Patriot anti-missile system.

Notably, Garner was President Ronald Reagan's point man, as the commanding general of the army's Space and Strategic Defense Command, on the "Star Wars" missile defense scheme.

His admirers describe him as compassionate and people-oriented, and his role in the resettlement of Kurdish refugees to northern Iraq following the Gulf War has been emphasized.

While naming a military man to a civilian role has a precedent in Japan after World War II -- General Douglas MacArthur -- it appears unprecedented to have someone in charge of rebuilding a country who until recently headed a company that was partially responsibile for its destruction.

Garner became president of SY Coleman after retiring from the army in 1997 with a near total lack of experience in the private sector.

The high-technology defense contractor, acquired by defense giant L-3 Communications last year, makes missile guidance systems.

The choice of a man so closely tied to the military industrial complex to run the civil administration of post-war Iraq has raised questions of a possible conflict of interest.

David Kirp, a professor of ethics at Berkeley University, said that Garner was a "charming example" of American indifference toward the Iraqi people and showed the lack of foresight by the US administration.

A retired lieutenant-colonel of the space command, Biff Baker, alleged that Garner used his Pentagon connections to win 100 million dollars in contracts for SY Coleman.

Garner, who denied any wrongdoing, countered with a defamation suit, and the matter was settled out of court in January.

More troubling for some are Garner's stated political views in support of Israel and his ties with the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, which have prompted accusations of Zionism from some Arab critics.

He has been regularly denounced by the Council on American-Islamic Relations for his views.

This is perhaps why the Pentagon has indicated that Garner will hold the position for only a few months until he is replaced by a civilian figure.

SPACE.WIRE