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Pentagon to finance intelligence ops using Iraqi opposition

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Sunday, August 11, 2002

WASHINGTON Ñ The Bush administration has agreed to fund and coordinate intelligence operations by the Iraqi opposition.

The administration's decision would remove the State Department from overseeing many of the INC activities. The department had been holding up millions of dollars in funds to the Iraqi opposition amid a dispute over the use of the money.

Officials said the Iraqi National Congress would receive an unspecified budget for intelligence missions in Iraq. They said INC missions would be supervised by the Defense Department.



For two years, the INC was urging the administration to provide money for intelligence and sabotage missions, Middle East Newsline reported. The State Department had refused.

But officials said the administration has now told the INC and other opposition groups that the Pentagon would work with them to engage in military activities not under the purview of the State Department. The officials said the State Department and Pentagon are discussing the new arrangement.

"My understanding is that the State Department, DOD [Department of Defense] and the INC are working together on transferring some responsibilities for information-gathering activities by the INC from State to DOD," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "The details have not been worked out. The discussions are under way. And as it involves information-gathering, I guess that's all I'd be inclined to say about it.

It's an administrative issue that's being sorted out."

Over the weekend, two senior officials from the Pentagon and State Department met representatives from the INC, Iraqi National Accord, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Constitutional Monarchy Movement and the Teheran-based Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.

Later, the Iraqi opposition envoys were addressed by Vice President Richard Cheney via a video-conference call. Additional meetings between the Iraqi opposition and U.S. officials have been planned for this week.

INC leader Ahmad Chalaby said after Friday's meeting that the Iraqi opposition sensed greater seriousness and commitment from the U.S. government to overthrow the regime of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Other Iraqi opposition sources said Washington has granted the Iraqi opposition the green light to establish bases in countries that border Iraq.

"The United States and the Iraqi opposition share a vision of a better future for the Iraqi people after the departure of Saddam Hussein and his regime," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said. "Our vision is for a democratic Iraq with a government that respects the rights of its citizens and the rule of law, no longer threatens its neighbors, renounces the development and possession of weapons of mass destruction, and maintains the territorial integrity of the country."

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