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Arab-Iranian feud splits Iraqi opposition over post-Saddam era

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, November 8, 2002

The United States has acknowledged that Iraqi opposition groups have been mired in a dispute for control after the demise of the regime led by President Saddam Hussein.

At stake is an Iraqi opposition conference in Brussels on Nov. 22. The London-based Iraqi National Congress has charged that the session is being packed by Iranian-sponsored opposition members who plan to deny any influence to democratic forces.

Members of the Iran-backed Iraqi National Accord contend that they have combat experience with Saddam's forces while others have lived lives of luxury in the West.

The Bush administration, which has struggled to maintain a united opposition, has been trying to resolve the dispute over the conference, Middle East Newsline reported.

"Our understanding is that there are still differences among the Iraqi opposition as to the proposed conference," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We expect them to work out these problems in an open and democratic manner."

Kanan Makiya, a leading democrat in the Iraqi opposition, said the conference is being opposed by the INC and Turkmen groups. He said the organizers will assign 40 percent of the proposed 180 seats at the conference to the Iranian-backed Council of the Islamic Revolution and will not discuss a plan for Iraqi democracy.

Another 25 percent of the seats will be assigned to two Kurdish groups, Makiya said. He did not identify them, but officials said the reference is to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdish Democratic Party.

"Where are the independents; where are the democrats; where are the Assyrians; where are the rest of the Arabs," Makiya asked. "Where is Iraq in such a travesty of democracy and fairness?"

INC leaders as well as Makiya have urged the State Department to oppose the meeting in Brussels. They said the meeting is being supported and financed by Washington.

U.S. officials said both the Defense Department and the State Department have worked to reconcile the Iraqi opposition. They said the administration has met with leaders of six groups and urged them to cooperate. The groups are the INC, Iraqi National Accord, Constitutional Monarchist Movement, Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

An INA representative, who did not want to be identified, dismissed the arguments of Makiya and INC supporters. He said many of the fighters of his group have been killed or imprisoned by Saddam's forces while opponents of the conference lived in the lap of luxury in the West.

For his part, Boucher stressed that the role of the United States in uniting the Iraqi opposition is limited.

"To the extent that we can be helpful and present ideas or make suggestions that can help them work together, we want to do that," Boucher said. "But fundamentally, these issues need to be resolved among Iraqis and they need to come up with a system that can be broad-based and that can have a role for all the different people inside Iraq."

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