Pentagon gung-ho on opposition plans to topple Saddam
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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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