.Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Özeti
IrcrqiOpposition tO,FonriLeadership Team
to Prepare for "Transition to Democracy
By JUDITH MILLER
, SALAHEDDIN, Iraq, Feb. 27 -
;Defying American wishes, Iraqi opposition
leaders decided today to
,form a leadership committee to help
'prepare for a transition to democracy
if President Saddam Hussein is
ousted, and to dispatch a delegation
ito Ankara to try to dissuade Turkey
'from sending troops into northern
Iraq during a war.
Both steps seem aimed at enhancing
the status of the Iraqi National
Congress, the umbrella opposition
'group, whose 55-member advisory
,committee has been holding its first
meeting ii1 Iraq in nearly a decade.
The delegates are seeking to portray
the Congress as independent,
not, as some critiès charge, Ameri-
,ca's pawn. In backing Kurdish demands
that Turkish forces not cross
into northern Iraq, the opposition
leaders want to be perceived as Iraqi
patriots determined to safeguard
their country's sovereignty.
Zalmay Khalilzad, President
Bush's special envoy to the Iraqi
opposition, who praised it in a speech
to the Congress's opening session on
Wednesday, spent much of today trying,
unsuccesfully, to persuade delegates
not to forma leadership group.
, In his speech, he urged the group
to create a political task force that
would have a largely advisory role.
He said that 'group Viould be one of
several to provide counsel on issues
like relief and reconstruction assistance,
public diplomacy, outreach to
Iraqis living under Mr. Hussein and
securing the'country during a war.
But Ahmad Chalabi, a leader of the
Congress, and the two main Kurdish
leaders - Hoshyar Zebari, head of
the Kurdistan Democratic Party,
and Jalai Talabani, head of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan - and even
Abdelaziz al-Hakim, a leader of the
Iranian-backed Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq -
favored formation of a group that is,
in Mr. Zebari's word, the nucleus of a
future representative govern~ent of
Iraq. In an interview today, Ml'. Talabani
supported creation of a leadership
group. He said the Kurds wanted
equality in a federated Iraq in
which they would voluntarily give up
some rights that Kurds in northern
Iraq now enjoy, like collecting customs
and maintaining their own
armed forces.
The group also put its own 'spin on
Mr. Kbalilzad's recommendation
that the Kurds work with the United
States and Turkey to support the
liberation Qf Iraq. Mr.' Zebari an-
,nounced today that the opposition
., had decided to send a delegation to
Turkey to show that all Iraqis, not
just ,the Kurds, were agâinst "any
regional intervention in the internal
affairs of Iraq."
He "'reiterated his warning that
there y,rouldbe clashes if Turks entered
northern Iraq in large numbers.
Iraqi Kurds, who' have controlled
northern Iraq since Mr. Hussein's
defeat in the Persian Gulf war
cif 1991, deeply mistrust Turkey,
which has historic claims to some
Iraqi territory and a desire to control
Kurdish separatist forces there.
Mr. Zebari said he hoped the
'agreement that the United States,
was trying to sign with Turkey,
which Turkey has insisted on before '
it allows American combat forces to
use Turkish bases for an offensive
against Mr. Hussein, "won't be attbe
~x~nse of the poor Kurdish people."
The tone of challenge to Washington
was atypical of that struck here
by the Iraqi opposition, which is un-
,der enormous political pressure in
, this prelude to a possible war.
On one hand the dissidents are
trying to assure Iraqis living under
Mr. Hussein that they can protect
their country's interests and its independence.
On the other hand, they
know that Mr. Hussein cannot be
deposed without American military
power, and they are eager to avoid
'alienating the Americans, who would
control Iraq for a time after a successful
military invasion,
YJ
Ahmad Chalabi',left, a leader of ~e Iraqi National Congress. and Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Unio~ of Kurdistan,
sJ1ared a light moment yesterday between sessions of a meeting of Iraqi opposition leaders.
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