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http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=1069792002 The Scotsman September 26, 2002 America ready to train rebel army Tim Cornwell Deputy Foreign Editor -"We have graduated to the next step of regime change," a Bush administration official told the newspaper. -Mr Wolfowitz is counted among a small but influential group inside the Bush administration who see the overthrow of Saddam as the possible first step to redrawing the map of the Middle East in America�s favour. -One conservative commentator argued in the Wall Street Journal recently that Iraq was a country "in name only", cobbled together by Britain in the style of Yugoslavia, in the wake of the First World War. THE Bush administration will provide military training for up to 10,000 members of the Iraqi opposition in a major policy shift. The White House may ask the US congress to release funds for the training as early as this week. Close to $100 million (�64 million) is available under the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act. Those chosen for training will be drawn from all of Iraq�s three major ethnic and religious groups, officials said. They are the Iraqi Kurds in the north, the majority Shia Muslims and the minority Sunni Muslims, from whom Saddam traditionally draws his support. "This is a fundamental change in US policy. The US has refused for years to provide us with combat training," said a member of the London-based Iraqi National Congress. But the Iraqis will be trained mostly as "support staff" to co-ordinate with and help American forces, the Los Angeles Times reported. They would not be used to "lead the charge" against Saddam. "We have graduated to the next step of regime change," a Bush administration official told the newspaper. "They will be trained on US systems and military capabilities, but that does not mean creating an armed insurrection group to go in itself as a tripwire." President George Bush has repeatedly called for "regime change" in Iraq. But the US has long feared the consequences of a full-scale revolt that could split the country. In 1991, after driving Iraqi forces out of Kuwait, Washington refused to protect or back a series of rebellions inside Iraq. It allowed Saddam Hussein�s forces to reassert control with brutal force. Washington�s particular fear has been that the Shia majority could establish an Islamic state in the south, closely allied with Shia Iran, which President Bush named as the third country, with North Korea, in the "axis of evil". In 1991, Shia Muslims briefly seized major cities in southern Iraq. Their leaders appeared on posters alongside Iran�s Ayatollah Khomeini - now dead, but a figure whose influence America dreaded. The situation with the Kurds, who have already carved out a northern enclave under the umbrella of the allied "no flight" zone, is almost equally volatile. Turkey this week warned that it will not stand by if a Kurdish state emerges in northern Iraq. It fears such a region would be used as a base for Turkey�s Kurds to relaunch an armed campaign for their own lands. "We will not tolerate, in any way, the formation of a new state in northern Iraq," said Sukru Sina Gurel, the Turkish foreign minister. It followed the threat last month by Sabahattin Cakmakoglu, Turkey�s defence minister, to put troops in northern Iraq to prevent the Kurds consolidating power. The 1998 act allowed the Pentagon to provide training, but not weaponry, to seven opposition groups. But hardly any of the money set aside has been spent. The Clinton and Bush administrations refused requests from the various groups for help. But policy changed after a meeting of Iraqi opposition groups last month, when officials decided they could "turn the corner and be a vehicle for hastening Saddam�s departure". Pentagon hawks pushing for Washington to back the Iraqi opposition include Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, and Paul Wolfowitz, his deputy. Three years ago, the two men signed a letter to the then president, Bill Clinton, urging him to offer support. Mr Wolfowitz is counted among a small but influential group inside the Bush administration who see the overthrow of Saddam as the possible first step to redrawing the map of the Middle East in America�s favour. By installing a pro-US government there, it is argued, Washington could boost its influence over neighbouring Iran and Syria. One conservative commentator argued in the Wall Street Journal recently that Iraq was a country "in name only", cobbled together by Britain in the style of Yugoslavia, in the wake of the First World War. But it is clear that the Bush administration is approaching the offer of training carefully. Plans to use some Iraqis as advance teams or "spotters" for US ground and air strikes have been scrapped in favour of enlisting interpreters and guides. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? 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