Exiles discuss Iraq overthrow

LONDON, England -- Iraqi military defectors are discussing plans to overthrow President Saddam Hussein as a step towards 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.

One member of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) told CNN the most likely way to oust Hussein was a targeted U.S. strike followed by internal uprising.

Sharif Ali Bin Hussein said: "The size of U.S. involvement is under discussion but the most likely scenario is a U.S. strike against Saddam Hussein's power base and the few units that support him.

"That would then give the Iraqi people and the army the opportunity to rise up against him."

The (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."

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

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 hawkish noises from Washington including President George W. Bush.

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.