THE US: The US administration will today attempt to show a united strategy in dealing with the Iraqi opposition and urge the groups to overcome their rivalries and step up co-operation.
Six dissident groups will meet US State and Defence Department officials, two parts of the administration that have appeared to back different organisations.
The divisions in Washington have contributed to the internal conflicts plaguing the weak opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime.
The joint invitation from the two Departments marks an effort by the US to show more serious thinking about a post-Saddam era. US allies have been warning that military action will leave a dangerous vacuum that a fractured opposition with little domestic support is ill-placed to fill.
The White House reacted with contempt yesterday to a speech by Iraqi President Saddam, in which he warned that a US military attack would fail and would end in "bloody failure" and that those who attacked Arab and Muslim countries would be consigned to "the dustbin of history". The US responded by again warning the Iraqi government that it must comply with its obligations under UN Security Council resolutions, including co-operating fully with arms inspectors.
"The Iraqi government needs to comply with the responsibilities it agreed to at the end of the Gulf War," said Mr Scott McClennan, a White House spokesman at President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, where the president is on vacation.
He reminded reporters that Mr Bush has yet to decide on a course of action on Iraq.
Meanwhile, the UN Secretary- General, Mr Kofi Annan, said he saw no sign in the speech of a shift in Iraq's refusal to readmit arms inspectors and no cause for optimism unless there were "unforeseen developments".
He said he had received no response from the Iraqis to a letter he wrote two days ago telling Baghdad it had to send a formal invitation for UN inspectors to return to Baghdad before further substantive talks could be held on arms issues.
As the exchanges between Washington and Baghdad continued this week, Iraqi experts have been meeting to discuss public finance and accounts, a move that is part of the State Department's plans to organise groups of professionals who might assist a future administration.
Administration officials have also held separate meetings in recent months with former Iraqi military officers and with the leaders of the two Kurdish factions that control the northern part of the country and are the only groups with any significant fighting force.
Today's meeting will be hosted by under-secretary of state for political affairs, Mr Marc Grossman, and Mr Douglas Feith, under-secretary of defence.
The Iraqi groups sending leaders or representatives to the discussions are the two Kurdish factions in northern Iraq; the Iraqi National Congress (INC), headed by Ahmad Chalabi; the Iraqi National Accord (INA), made up of former regime insiders; the Constitutional Monarchy movement; and the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the Shia group based in Iran.
Opposition groups have been jockeying for power and for US attention in the hope of securing a role if the Iraqi regime is overthrown. Although all the main organisations agree on the need to set up a provisional government on Iraqi territory when military operations begin, and on the inclusion of ethnic groups in an eventual administration, rivalry has prevented co-ordination.
The Pentagon has been supportive of the INC but the London-based organisation has been in conflict with the State Department. - (Financial Times Service)