-Caveat Lector- >From Int'l Herald Tribune Paris, Saturday, January 30, 1999 U.S. Restricts Pledge to Aid Saddam's Foes ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By Vernon Loeb Washington Post Service ------------------------------------------------------------------------ WASHINGTON - The senior American diplomat coordinating affairs with the Iraqi opposition told 13 opposition leaders on Friday that he would promote the goals of the Iraq Liberation Act with Gulf states. But he stopped well short of committing U.S. military aid to opposition forces, American officials and opposition members said. The diplomat, Frank Ricciardone, a senior Foreign Service officer recently named to fill a new post working with opposition forces to bring about a new regime in Baghdad, also told the leaders at a meeting in London that he would soon be joined by a planning staff that includes a retired U.S. general. But key opposition leaders expressed disappointment after the session at Mr. Ricciardone's reticence toward military aid and at remarks critical of the opposition made Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington by the chief of the U.S. Central Command and leader of all U.S. forces in the Gulf. Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, a coalition group based in London, said Mr. Ricciardone's stance seemed to reflect a bias by U.S. policy makers for continued covert attempts to instigate a coup inside the Iraqi military. But Mr. Chalabi reserved his harshest criticism for General Anthony Zinni of the Marine Corps, the commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf, who, he said, ''may be a good general, but he's not an expert on the Iraqi opposition and he's not an expert on Iraqi society.'' ''The fact that he said there are 91 opposition groups shows his lack of knowledge about Iraq,'' said Mr. Chalabi, who was represented at Friday's meeting with Mr. Ricciardone by a former general in the Iraqi Army, Tawfik Il Yassiri. ''There are a lot of opposition groups who have fought Saddam - as we did in 1995 - and lived to tell about it,'' Mr. Chalabi said. ''And we thank Congress for its support.'' General Zinni expressed deep reservations about the Iraq Liberation Act before the Armed Services Committee and said arming the Iraqi opposition under the act could backfire and create a ''rogue state'' in Iraq even more destabilizing than the current regime of President Saddam Hussein. Echoing concerns over arming the opposition voiced this week by key U.S. allies in the Gulf, General Zinni told the Senate Armed Services Committee that none of 91 Iraqi opposition groups had ''the viability to overthrow Saddam at this point.'' Arming them, he warned, ''could be very dangerous.'' ''I've seen the effect of regime changes that didn't quite come about the way we would have liked,'' General Zinni said. ''And the last thing we need is another rogue state. The last thing we need is a disintegrated, fragmented Iraq because the effects on the region would be far greater, in my mind, than a contained Saddam.'' A State Department spokesman, James Foley, later said that he endorsed General Zinni's conclusion that opposition groups were not an immediate threat to the Iraqi regime and should not receive U.S. arms in the short term. But Mr. Foley continued to embrace the Iraq Liberation Act and said the administration's Iraq policy ''reached a turning point'' after Congress passed the measure in September. The act makes toppling Mr. Saddam's regime an explicit goal of U.S. foreign policy and authorizes $97 million in military support to the Iraqi opposition. But it leaves any decision to arm the opposition to the administration. ''No decisions have been made yet in that regard,'' Mr. Foley said. As the administration shifts from containing Mr. Saddam to a more active strategy of trying to topple his regime, it designated seven opposition groups last week as eligible for military assistance and named Mr. Ricciardone to coordinate U.S. activities with opposition groups. But those efforts have spurred opposition. The Iranian-backed Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the most potent armed force within the opposition, announced last week that it wanted no part of the U.S. plan. Two armed Kurdish militias occupying parts of northern Iraq, the only other major opposition groups with armed soldiers, quickly followed suit, despite extensive efforts by State Department officials last fall to unify the groups and enlist their support in opposing the Iraqi regime. Fearing heavily armed Kurdish forces on its border, the Turkish government, a key U.S. ally in the region, expressed reservations this week about the Iraq Liberation Act. Turkish concerns were echoed by Saudi officials meeting in Riyadh with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The Saudis said the kingdom ''does not believe and does not support any foreign side to interfere in changing the ruling regime in Iraq because any such change should take place from within Iraq and by the people themselves,'' The Associated Press reported. One administration official in Washington acknowledged Turkey's concerns about arming the Kurds, but cautioned that there was a difference between the Saudis' public and private positions on U.S. efforts to help topple Mr. Saddam. ''Most Arab leaders would be overjoyed if they woke up one morning and Saddam was gone,'' the official said. ''They would like us to topple the Iraqi leader, and they would like us to do it quietly and efficiently. What they say publicly - they have to cater to the street.'' On Capitol Hill, Gen. Zinni and Walter B. Slocombe, assistant secretary of defense for policy, bluntly told leading Senate proponents of the Iraq Liberation Act that arming the opposition was misguided. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ A<>E<>R The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! 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