WITH US BLESSINGS, IRAQI OPPOSITION LARGEST CONFERENCE STARTED
By Safa Haeri, IPS Editor at the Conference
LONDON 13 Dec. (IPS) Over 350 Iraqis, belonging to more than 50 different groups and organisations opposed to the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hoseyn gathered in London on Friday to discuss plans for the establishment of a post Saddam democratic regime respecting justice, human rights and freedom.
The meeting, the largest of the Iraqi oppositions, is sponsored by both the United States and Britain, although delegates insisted that it had "nothing to do with them".
However, a report worked out by the "Democratic Principles Working Group on Iraq", put up by 32 Iraqis representing the groups taking part at the London meeting, clearly states that "the United States would lead a coalition of forces in a campaign to change the regime in Iraq",.. that "the international community, including the US, will remain engaged in Iraq and committed to its institutional, economic and civic reconstruction".
In their two days debates, the delegates, among them some 100 women, all said to be independent, would exchange views issues such as a transitional period, transitional justice, institutional reforms, human rights, the rule of law, federalism and a constitutional framework.
"Iraqi democrats view decentralisation as a necessary principle for democratisation in Iraq, and the concept of federalism within Iraq’s territorial integrity entered Iraqi discourse in 1992 as an appropriate organisational structure for the Iraqi state", the document says in part that must satisfy the Kurds, that represents the largest organised force, followed by the Shi’ites, opposed to the present Iraqi regime, analysts noted.
The report said it was recognised "that because of 35 years of dictatorship, there are likely not to be ready political alternatives within Iraq".
At a press conference held in the afternoon, representatives and leaders of several groups, with the exception of the Kurdish parties, confirmed that they were not appointing a leader, nor forming a government-in-exile but laying the framework for the future of a post-Saddam Iraq.
"We are not after forming a unified organisation, but a coalition of various parties and groups, all working for a better future for both Iraq and the region, a democratic Iraq that would respect human rights, freedoms, parliamentarian democracy and the rights of all its people", Prince Sharif Ben Ali, a grand son of the last king of Iraq told journalists.
Later, speaking privately to some journalists, including this correspondent, Mr. Ali said the United States has "several scenarios" for Iraq, but it has not decided on any, including the one that suggest appointing a general as a governor for Iraq, on the schema worked out after the war for Japan and Germany.
"But Iraq is not Germany, nor Afghanistan or Somalia. We have plenty of cadres to govern the country without any outside help. Besides, there are also many other considerations, like what neighbouring countries like Turkey or Iran might do, once the American installed in Baghdad", he observed.
But the Working Group suggested a "partnership between Iraqi democrats and the United States".
Colonel Fawzi al Shamari, of the US-based "Iraqi Officers Movement" said the conference is "against any direct American involvement" in toppling Saddam Hoseyn. "We can do it by ourselves, but Washington must help us by all means", he told IPS.
"There is a huge distance between the United States and us. The Americans are backing this conference only to show that there is a multi-ethnic opposition to Saddam", colonel al-Zayadi, another officer taking part at the meeting said.
Though Mr. Ali also was not very warm about an American-led outright war in Iraq, he however said according to international law, the allied have the right to be in charge of the (defeated party) affairs for a short period of time".
"The opposition is perfectly capable of running Iraq. The United States is leaving it to the Iraqis to decide what form of government they want", Prince Sharif added.
The London conference started two days after leaders of the main Iraqi opposition forces, meaning the two Kurdish parties that rule over most of the Iraqi Kurdistan, the Shi’ites and the Iraqi National Congress (INC) had met in Tehran.
Asked to comment of the Iranian statements that it would not allow the Iraqi opposition to use Iranian territory for attacking Iraq in the heel of American-led war and also why Iran refused to confirm that it had invited Mr. Mas’ood Barzani to come to Tehran, Mr. Ahmad Chalabi, the leader of the INC first refused to comment, but latter he praised the role the Islamic Republic has played in helping Iraqi refugees and the opposition.
Iranian official declarations had visibly angered both the Kurds and Ayatollah Baqer al-Hakim, the leader of the Tehran-based Supreme Assembly of Islamic Revolution of Iraq (SAIRI).
SAIRI is allied itself with Mas’ood Barzani's Democratic Party of Kurdistan and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan of Mr. Jalal Talabani, as well as with former members of the ruling Ba’ath Party, to form what is known as the Group of Four.
The Four are opposed to the two remaining groups recognized by the United Sates: the Iraqi National Congress, which is led by former banker Ahmad Chalabi, and a monarchist movement.
Mrs. Bdour al-Dadah, a femalre independent representative hoped that the meeting would also make a "fair place" for Iraqi women after the collapse of the present dictatorship.
"Iraqi women suffer much more that men. They are badly repressed, both because of Islamic laws and also the regime itself. Many women who are in the opposition are killed, but accused of bad behaviour", she said. ENDS IRAQI OPPOSITION CONFERENCE 131202