Refugees with American accents return to fight for the peace

Ali Sadoon Salman went home yesterday, surprising his old friends and neighbours with his American drawl.

They had not seen him since he fled from near Basra to escape Saddam Hussein's suppression of the uprising by Shias at the end of the 1991 Gulf War. Now he was back, a member of the Free Iraqi Forces, in US Army uniform and with the initials "FIF" worn proudly on his sleeve.

The leader of the exiled opposition, Ahmed Chalabi, was flown by the American military into southern Iraq with 700 fighters on Sunday. He is pushing to organise an interim government at a meeting in Nasiriyah later this week.

Mr Ali, 35, will be fighting with words not weapons, as part of an American initiative to use refugees from the Saddam regime to help convince "liberated" Iraqis that the Allies are determined not just to defeat the Baghdad leadership but rebuild the country after its overthrow.

"When I came back I was in tears," said Mr Ali, who has yet to be reunited with the family he left behind. "It was with very mixed feelings. I have a new life in America but this is my home. I have waited a long time for this moment."

President Saddam's soldiers ruthlessly suppressed the uprising in the south, where Shia Muslims wrongly believed they would be backed by Allied forces after the Iraqi defeat in Kuwait. As a prominent figure in the rebellion he was a marked man and fled through Saudi Arabia, eventually finding his way to America. He now lives in Washington DC.

In the build-up to the current war, Washington decided to recruit Iraqi refugees to help create what they they like to call a "seamless peace", the promise of immediate reconstruction and humanitarian aid. "I answered the call," said Mr Ali, who speaks in almost fluent English and with a noticeable American accent. He was given the honorary title of lieutenant but has not been issued with a weapon.

"I don't need a gun. These are my people and I would not be here if I did not believe that they were opposed to the overthrow of Saddam. I can tell you, these people are happy. They need water and they need electricity but, after all they have been through, they are prepared to be patient."

He was surrounded by a crowd of local people when he arrived in Safwan. They listened eagerly to what he told them, and then he listened to them as they explained their hopes and priorities.

In 10 minutes he had shaken more then 50 hands. He visited the hospital and chatted to doctors about their lack of medical supplies. Scrawled on a wall behind him were the words: "Saddam no, Bush yes".

Major Mark Green, of the US Army 352 Civilian Affairs Command, said the Americans had recruited 70 refugees into the FIF, mainly from the United States and Canada, but with more than a dozen from Europe, including six Britons.

"We took them to Fort Bliss in Texas for initial assessment and then to Hungary for training. We have been in Kuwait for several weeks waiting to cross over and now we are just starting our work in Iraq. We regard them as highly specialised civilian soldiers."

This is a pooled dispatch from a correspondent of 'The Daily Telegraph'