Bush team unpersuaded by Iraqi opposition: Saddam 'stronger than ever'

WASHINGTON Ñ Meetings here this week with leaders of the Iraqi opposition have failed to impress the Bush administration.

Officials said the administration continues to analyze options in helping the opposition overthrow President Saddam Hussein. They said despite pledges during the presidential campaign, the new White House staff remains skeptical over the ability of the INC to undermine the Saddam regime.

"Let's say that the professional opinion is that Saddam's regime is stronger than ever and the INC appears way out of its league," an official said.

Earlier, administration sources said policy toward the Iraqi opposition appeared divided between Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who wants a vigorous anti-Saddam drive, and a more cautious Secretary of State Colin Powell who initially opposed a U.S. military response when Iraq invaded Kuwait on Aug 1, 1990.

Another advocate of the Iraqi opposition has been Paul Wolfowitz who has been nominated as deputy defense secretary, the second highest post in the Pentagon. Wolfowitz served as a key Pentagon strategist during the Gulf war, when Bush's father was president.

As undersecretary of defense for policy in 1991, Wolfowitz worked with the same members of the current administration, He fought then-Defense Secretary Richard Cheney and then-chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell in arguing that the United States should topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The elder Bush, however, agreed with Powell's recommendation to end the war.

During the years of the Clinton administration, Wolfowitz, then out of government, urged the White House and Congress to support the Iraqi opposition.

The Republican-dominated Congress is pressing the White House to increase U.S. support in the drive to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Both the Iraqi opposition and its allies in Congress want the United States to train and equip the opposition for battle against the regime in Baghdad.

"Obviously we are looking at our options with regard to Iraq policy," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We have not taken a decision on many of these issues that have been raised. I'm not sure there is any particular deadline on some of these issues."