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Blanchard

Pentagon gung-ho on opposition plans to topple Saddam

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, December 10, 2001

LONDON Ñ The Iraqi opposition is gearing up for action with the Pentagon's encouragement while the U.S. State Dept. continues to oppose funding for their efforts.

Opposition sources said they were quietly coordinating a military coalition meant to topple the regime of President Saddam Hussein.

They are recruiting political and former officers to join a military council that would plan a campaign against Saddam, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the council would seek to capitalize on the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and the prospect that Washington would soon target the Saddam regime.

The effort is receiving unofficial support from Kuwait and the United States. The Bush administration, however, has not budgeted aid for an opposition military campaign. Opposition sources said the INC plans to hold talks with the administration later this month.

The State Department is said to be leading the opposition to any U.S. funding for an INC insurgency campaign against Saddam. The INC has requested $23 million for intelligence and reconnaissance missions that would focus on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs.

The Pentagon has urged President George Bush to use the INC in any campaign to overthrow Saddam. Pentagon sources said the INC could duplicate the role of the Northern Alliance, which fought the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

Congressional leaders agree. "The threat from Iraq is real, and it cannot be permanently contained," a letter to Bush by nine congressional leaders said. "For as long as Saddam Hussein is in power in Baghdad, he will seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them." The London-based Iraqi National Congress has urged Washington to support an insurgency campaign against Saddam. The INC wants such a campaign to be based in the autonomous Kurdish zone in northern Iraq and would include both reconnaissance operations as well as anti-Saddam radio broadcasts.

On Monday, a U.S. delegation led by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ryan Walker is expected to hold talks with Kurdish leaders in northern Iraq.

The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat reported on Monday that Walker will renew the U.S. commitment to protect the autonomous Kurdish zone from any attack by Saddam.

The Kuwaiti A-Rai Al Aam daily reported that former Iraqi military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Nizar Abdul Karim Khazranji is being touted as a candidate to head the military council. The newspaper said the council will include 600 Iraqi officers who have defected.

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