As the US hatches plans to invade Iraq, Mukul Devichand reports from London, where exiled Iraqi opposition leaders told the world they were ready for war Click to view caption It was an unlikely venue to plan a rebellion. The redbrick expanse of London's Kensington council chamber was bathed in camera lights last Friday. Underneath a hand-painted banner that read "One army for a United Iraq" 70 former Iraqi military officers made a show of discussing how they would go about deposing President Saddam Hussein. "All the major Iraqi opposition parties are represented here, together with officers who remain unattached to political parties," explained Albert Yelda of the Iraqi Military Alliance, which organised the meeting. "We are not being funded by the US," he made a point of telling reporters. The cameras continued to whirr while the elderly General Fadel Al-Assef opened the proceedings. "Our people in the Iraqi army are ready," he told Al-Ahram Weekly later. "But we don't know how long it will take or how many lives." No sooner had he finished than all heads in the room turned to receive an unexpected guest. Prince Hassan of Jordan -- uncle to the country's leader King Abdullah -- rather stole the show when he entered, ringed by TV cameras. An embarrassed Jordan, where support for the Iraqi president remains strong, later distanced itself from the move. Amman has previously said it would remain neutral if the US invaded its neighbour, despite signals this week that US forces may use Jordan as a base. Prince Hassan was formerly in line for the throne, but now holds no government position in Jordan. He claimed he had come only to support his cousin Sharif Ali Al-Hussein, head of Iraq's monarchy party. Al-Hussein later told the Weekly: "The people have rejected military government because when they had it they suffered. We need to find a new way." Meanwhile Ahmed Chalabi -- leader of the controversial US- funded Iraqi National Conference (INC), members of which dominated the guest list -- was addressing reporters in the corridor. "Saddam," he said -- borrowing the US administration's shorthand for President Hussein -- "is the oldest terrorist in the world. That's why the US is beginning to feel he is a threat to their national security, and that is why they are supporting Iraq's national liberation struggle." Though the conference was independently organised, those present seemed to direct much time and energy towards presenting themselves as credible allies for the US, which is making increasing noises about an invasion of Iraq early next year. "The Americans have betrayed us four times," said Chalabi. "But their policy has evolved since President Clinton's Iraqi Liberation Act in 1998." Albert Yelda agreed. "We will accept any help from any friendly country including the US," he told the Weekly. Of course, representatives from the US Embassy in London were also in attendance, together no doubt with spies reporting to Baghdad. Although the INC is already US- funded, their support mainly comes from the Pentagon, while the CIA and State department favour other opposition groups. A major aim of the conference, therefore, was to present the Americans with a united front. The rebels also claimed they wanted a democratic Iraq -- even, some said, if that might alienate US support. "The US call for democracy in Iraq and they should want it for Iraqis too," said Mohamed Mohamed Ali of the Iraqi Leadership Congress. He told the Weekly: "They may want a military man in the interim, but of course that is not how the military are." "We are in a crucial position regarding US support. We have to decide whether to accept or reject US funding," Al-Hussein said. The conference ended Sunday by adopting a politically correct declaration designed to encourage minorities -- especially the Kurds of the north -- to join forces with the opposition. "We have agreed a self-determination policy for the Kurds within the framework of a federal, democratic, constitutional Iraq," Yelda told the Weekly. "And national and cultural rights for the Assyrians and Turkomans." Beyond the media circus and much international attention at a crucial stage of US invasion planning, the conference seemed to achieve little. "We have elected a military council with several committees," explained Yelda. "We will deal with psychological warfare, the media, military law and trials of those who committed war crimes under Hussein." No leader has been elected -- although General Tawfiq Al-Yassiri, a veteran of the 1991 rebellion against Hussein, has been named as a spokesperson. In the end, the media spotlight was what it was all really about. A suave Chalabi told Al-Ahram Weekly: "The point of the meeting is to say to the Iraqi people that there is life after Saddam." Many of the assembled delegates seemed also to hope that they would be allowed to loom large in the life of that "reconstructed" Iraq.
