Exiles gather in London to plot Iraq revolution

Many have been accused of being adept only at getting money out of gullible Americans. They are a disparate bunch who know more about the price of a BMW than the situation in Baghdad.

But with the insistent drumbeat from Washington of a forthcoming Iraq invasion, the London conference of the exiled enemies of Saddam Hussein has become the sudden focus of international attention.

The meeting has brought together 300 opposition leaders abroad for the first time. The gathering, in the genteel surroundings of Kensington town hall, is meant to produce nothing less than a blueprint for an alternative government to that of President Saddam: democratic; inclusive of differing ethnic, religious, and political groupings; eschewing the use of weapons of mass destruction; and working for the good of the man on the Basra omnibus.

American and British diplomats will be present, but, they say, purely as observers, not attempting to influence the outcome. Critics, including some MPs, say this is risible. The exile movement, they claim, is a creature of London and Washington security services and will do their bidding.

But in reality this is not quite the case. The organisers say they are totally united on one matter, that President Saddam should not be replaced by another military strongman. But in Washington there are powerful voices who believe that a strong leader is precisely what is needed post-Saddam to ensure Iraq does not descend into secessionism, strife, and a haven for Islamist terrorism. That, after all, was one of the reasons the allies did not try harder to topple him at the end of the Gulf War.

The Iraqi military will be well represented at the meeting with around 70 former officers attending. But there is some interest in one general staying away while being quite vocal. Major General Nizar Khazraji, the former chief of staff of the Iraqi Army, who defected in 1995, has decided to stay at his home in Denmark.

His name has been linked to a plan floated recently for a council of former military officers to form a temporary administration following the fall of President Saddam. However, a Kurdish group is seeking to have General Khazraji prosecuted for allegedly ordering the use of chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians.

The man who was once favoured by the Americans as a civilian leader of Iraq is Ahmed Chalabi, the leader of the Iraqi National Congress umbrella group. Allegations of financial irregularities have been levelled at Mr Chalabi. He and his group have received millions of dollars from the US.

Sharif Ali bin Hussein, another banker, and a cousin of the assassinated King Feisal II, is the head of the London-based Constitutional Monarchy Movement. However, his plans for Iraq returning to a monarchy have been hit with the reported arrest of the exiled crown prince, Prince Adil Mohammed ibn Feisal, in Morocco on charges he had false identity papers.

There is little chance of overthrowing President Saddam or reconciliation afterwards without the two Kurdish factions, the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and their leaders, Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani, will not be at the meeting.

Officials of the Iraqi Communist Party, which enjoys support in Iraq and has been among the more effective opponents of the regime, have been welcomed in Washington. This was not an American change of view about "godless communism", but an attempt to improve the paucity of knowledge about Iraq. That lack of knowledge is unlikely to be rectified by the conference.