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London meet to draw up post-Saddam plan

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON DEC. 2. With the clock ticking away for the Iraqi President, Saddam Hussein, expatriate dissident groups are struggling to set aside their differences and rally round a common anti-Saddam platform ahead of the "fall'' of Baghdad.

Even though Britain has repeatedly stated that it does not favour a forced regime change in Iraq, it is actively engaged in U.S.-backed moves to bolster such groups and a meeting of their representatives is planned in London to draw up a "post-Saddam'' blueprint.

The conclave, likely to be attended by over 300 dissidents representing some half a dozen Opposition groups, is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 10, it is learnt.

A Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed to The Hindu that a meeting was planned and that Britain had "no objections''. Though the British Government was not directly involved, it might send an "observer'' if approached.

The move follows hectic efforts by London and Washington to get these disparate and highly ambitious elements to overcome their divisions so that they can emerge as a credible alternative to the Saddam regime which Western analysts reckon may not survive a U.S. military attack.

Observers called them the "usual suspects'' including the Iraqi National Congress (INC), once Washington's hot favourite but now out of favour with the State Department; the Kurdistan Democratic Party representing the Kurds in the north of Iraq; and the Constitutional Monarchy Movement which wants to restore monarchy in Iraq.

Even as organisers hailed it as a significant development, differences have already started to surface with contrary voices emerging from various groups, keen to push their own agenda.

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