Army exiles discuss Iraq overthrow

LONDON, England -- Iraqi military defectors are gathering in London to discuss plans to overthrow President Saddam Hussein as a precursor to establishing democracy in the Gulf state.

About 90 former Iraqi generals and senior officers will be gathering from their exiles around the world at a time when the focus is on a possible U.S. attack on Hussein's regime.

The Iraqi National Coalition (INC) will meet at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall in London on Friday to discuss the current strength of the opposition Iraqi Armed Forces.

It will also debate the means and possibilities of "rebuilding a united army for a future united, democratic constitutional Iraq."

They will seek to deliver a firm declaration on a democratic new regime that will reflect the three dominant ethnic groups.

It is the first time that the notoriously fractious Iraqi opposition has come together for a meeting of this kind.

Dr Ahmed Chalabi, a former Iraqi banker and leader of the Iraqi National Congress umbrella group, told the UK television Channel 4 news: "It will be a war of national liberation. We believe the people reject totalitarianism."

He added: "There is resistance to Saddam Hussein in Iraq during the past three decades in Baghdad everyday, in the south everyday.

"We are in consultation with the U.S. government."

Long wait

American and British diplomats will be attending to observe but will not take part.

Major-General Tawfiq Yassiri, Secretary-General of INC, told The Times newspaper the response from former colleagues had been "amazing."

The ex-military have been buoyed by speculation that Hussein's three decades of dictatorship may be near an end after repeated threats by U.S. President George W. Bush and the military preparations that are under way.

For some of the defectors, revenge has been a long and lonely wait.

Yassiri, a former Iraqi Army commander, took part in the 1991 uprising in southern Iraq against Hussein in the aftermath of the Gulf War, suffering injuries before fleeing to England.

Other key figures who are set to attend the conference, which ends on Sunday, include General Najib al-Salhi, a former tank commander in the elite Republican Guards who fought the coalition in the Gulf War before defecting to the U.S. in 1995.

But the most prominent figure and senior military defector, General Nizar Khazraji, will not be there.

The former Iraqi Chief of Staff, who currently lives in Denmark, is under investigation for alleged war crimes, using chemical weapons against Kurds and Iranians.

But the meeting is expected to face some opposition from exiles who want a strong leader to replace Hussein.