Posted on 07/11/2002 8:44:47 PM PDT by HAL9000
LONDON (AFP) - The Iraqi National Congress was to meet in London with former army officers, opponents of President Saddam Hussein and a US official to discuss ways of toppling his regime.The three days of talks from Friday are the latest in a series of meetings of Iraqi dissidents as speculation circulates that Washington will make Iraq a target of its campaign against terrorism.
Iraqi army officers will come "from all over the world" for the meeting, which will be held at an undisclosed location, Albert Yelda of the Iraqi National Coalition told AFP.
All Iraqi opposition movements, large or small, have been invited to the meeting which will discuss how to topple the existing regime, Iraq's future and the role of the army post-Saddam, he added.
US President George W. Bush vowed Monday to use "all tools" at his disposal to remove Saddam.
Bush said that the world would be a safer place once he had been overthrown, adding that he was personally engaged in "all aspects" of planning to achieve that goal.
"This is not a conference that we've supported financially, but we do support the idea of a broad-based military conference," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has said.
"We hope the conference helps the Iraqi community move closer to a goal of a better future for the Iraqi people after Saddam Hussein.
"We are in very frequent touch with Iraqi opposition groups and work with a whole variety of opposition groups regarding Iraq," he added.
The meeting comes the day after China said it was opposed to US plans to oust Saddam, arguing that the Middle Eastern country's sovereignty should not be violated.
"(Iraq's) sovereignty and territorial integrity should be completely respected," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a press briefing.
The New York Times reported recently that a top secret US military document has outlined a massive, three-pronged attack on Iraq by land, sea and air with as many as 250,000 troops and hundreds of warplanes.
The Daily Telegraph said here Friday that British and US spies are on the ground already in Iraq fomenting revolt among opposition groups and potential traitors in Saddam's inner circle.
"American personnel are supporting the Iraqi opposition and working with dissatisfied elements within Saddam's regime... Britain is involved to," a senior official told the daily.
The INC, an umbrella group for the Iraqi opposition, is one of several such organizations funded by Washington, receiving some 15 million dollars (15.2 million euros, 9.7 million pounds) to date.
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