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Training of Iraqi Exiles Authorized
U.S. to Ready 5,000 Foes Of Hussein for Combat
By Karen DeYoung and Daniel Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 19, 2002; Page A01
washingtontimes.com
President Bush has authorized U.S. combat training for Iraqi opponents of Saddam Hussein, and the Pentagon has identified as many as 5,000 recruits for an initial training phase to begin next month, according to administration and military officials.
Bush authorized the training in a National Security Presidential Directive on Oct. 3 that also approved the expenditure of $92 million in Defense Department funds, officials said. Defense and State Department officials intend to brief Congress next week on plans to instruct the Iraqis in basic combat as well as specialized skills to serve as battlefield advisers, scouts and interpreters with U.S. ground troops in an invasion force.
Others in a force eventually to number about 10,000 will be trained as forward spotters for laser-guided bombs and as military police to run prisoner of war camps inside Iraq. Officials said the recruits, drawn largely from lists of exiles in the Iraqi diaspora that are being provided by the London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC) and vetted by the Pentagon, would be trained together outside the United States. Military officials declined to say where the instruction would take place, but said it would not be in the Middle East region.
Bush's decision marks another major step forward in preparation for a U.S. military assault on Iraq. In recent weeks, the Pentagon has built up equipment stocks in Persian Gulf states, begun dispatching additional combat troops, issued orders to move headquarters units into place and made preparations to facilitate the deployment of tens of thousands of troops should Bush decide to attack. This week, an Army task force of Apache helicopters left Europe for Kuwait.
The Pentagon began serious consideration of an opposition training plan early last month. But long-standing uncertainty about the abilities and cohesion of the often-bickering exile groups had limited discussions to an initial phase of only about 1,000 recruits and a far smaller amount of money.
Bush's new directive appears to have ended that uncertainty. "It's a big deal," said a senior administration official.
Although $97 million for opposition training was first authorized in 1998 under the Iraq Liberation Act, a directive signed that year by then-President Bill Clinton restricted expenditures to nonlethal instruction. Until he signed the new directive early this month, Bush had adhered to Clinton's prohibitions, and only $5 million of the original money was spent, largely on communications and management training for a handful of exiles. The funds will now be spent on both training and arming the Iraqis to serve in specialized capacities alongside U.S. troops
Congress was notified of Bush's determination to draw down all of the remaining money on Oct. 11, as required under the act, but not of the new directive authorizing lethal training.
The Liberation Act and the Clinton directive both stated "regime change" as the goal of U.S. policy in Iraq. But they spoke only of providing assistance to opposition efforts to overthrow Hussein, and the law specifically barred the direct use of U.S. military forces. Although Bush vowed during the presidential campaign that he would "fully implement" the law, he retained the Clinton ban on lethal assistance to the exile groups, angering many members of Congress who urged more aggressive support for the exiles.
As it has built political momentum toward attacking Iraq, the administration has said its immediate goal is to disarm Iraq by finding and destroying its chemical and biological weapons production facilities and stockpiles. But Bush, Vice President Cheney and others have made clear they believe that the threat from Iraq will end only when Hussein is replaced by a new government.
The administration is in the final stages of negotiating a toughly worded United Nations resolution to authorize new U.N. weapons inspections in Iraq and threaten "serious consequences" if Baghdad fails to cooperate. The administration has said it expects the world to join in a multilateral force, if Iraqi defiance makes that necessary, but that it is willing to act alone. Last week, Congress passed a joint resolution authorizing Bush to launch a unilateral military attack that the administration has said Hussein would not survive.
The administration's eagerness to spell out a role for the Iraqi opposition, and congressional pressure to outline its plans for a post-Hussein Iraq, have been hampered through much of this year by disorganization among the exile groups. But although some opposition improvements, and the imminence of possible military action, have forced Bush's hand, the training plan has already exacerbated problems among the exile groups.
Opponents of the plan say it is a barely disguised effort to create a power base for Iraqi National Congress head Ahmed Chalabi. The INC is one of six groups officially designated by Washington as eligible for funds, although last week's notice to Congress on the $92 million funding said "other Iraqi opposition groups" may be named.
Although the State Department and Pentagon say they didn't plan it this way, the recruitment program has been largely in INC hands, a situation that pleases Chalabi supporters but that has outraged other groups. "The 5,000 or 6,000 names for the Pentagon are Chalabi's to give," according to an INC official in Europe.
Much of the dispute among the groups is centered on the relative closeness of their leaders to various parts of the administration, and on their various claims of the depth of their support inside Iraq. Although distrusted by the State Department and the CIA, Chalabi is popular at the Pentagon.
"Things are blowing Chalabi's way. He is backed by the Pentagon, so he is in the best shape he has been for a long time, and this is angering rivals," said one long-time observer of opposition maneuverings.
"The INC is toying with making a Praetorian Guard for Chalabi, because he has no following inside Iraq. I don't think this kind of thing should be imposed," said Salah Shaikhly, representative of the Iraqi National Accord, another of the six designated organizations. Although the INC has said it sought recruits among all committed Iraqis outside the country, and those inside who could make their way beyond Iraq's borders, Shaikhly said the other groups feel excluded.
Rivalries over who contributes to the Pentagon recruitment effort constitute just one symptom of continuing disarray among opposition organizations, much of which has centered around efforts to designate a provisional government in advance of Hussein's anticipated ouster -- an idea the administration has discouraged. Plans for a conference to choose a unified leadership fell apart in September, and the gathering has now been put off until at least November.
To a certain extent, the bumps in the road reflect old divisions among fractious Iraqi politicians, some of whom have been out of the country for decades. Uncertainty on just how Hussein will fall and who might emerge as power brokers inside Iraq also cloud preparation efforts. Some Iraqi leaders say they are reluctant to choose an exile government for fear of offending Iraqis inside the country who may be weighing a mutiny against Hussein, something that is being advocated by U.S. officials.
The difficulties of the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan in extending its influence beyond Kabul are regarded as a cautionary tale for a post-Hussein Iraq. Five of the six designated groups are key to the current squabbling: the INC, an amalgam of parties; the Iraqi National Accord, an organization traditionally linked with the CIA and fashioned to represent Iraq's large Shiite Muslim population; the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which administer parts of northern Iraq under the protective umbrella of U.S. and British warplanes; and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, another Shiite group whose leadership is based in Iran. |
