Iraqi opposition waits hopefully for U.S. move against Saddam

LONDON -- Former Iraqi military officers gathering Saturday to discuss their role in a possible effort to oust Saddam Hussein said they hoped, with U.S. support, to soon restore democracy to their country.

"The Iraqi people at the moment are like they are in a prison surrounded by guards, they need support to break the element of fear and the chains," said Najeb al-Salihi, a former brigadier general.

"It could happen by the Iraqi people themselves, but it will take a long time and that long time will have more victims of the Iraqi regime."

While he said he did not know whether the United States would go to war against Saddam, he expressed hope some action against the dictator would begin within the next few months.

For security reasons, organizers moved Saturday's meeting of about 70 former military officers from a west London conference hall to a nondescript office complex in the Willesden section of northwest London.

Albert Yelda, a spokesman for the Iraqi National Coalition, which organized the three-day conference, said the group's leaders had received threatening telephone calls which they believed were from people connected to the Iraqi government. Some callers, he said, suggested a suicide bomber might target the gathering.

Representatives of the State Department and the Pentagon attended Friday's session, and State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington that the United States thought the meeting was "a useful tool."

The United States is not supporting the conference financially, he said.

Also present Friday was Prince Hassan of Jordan, the uncle of King Abdullah II, but Jordan distanced itself from the gathering, saying Hassan's participation was an "individual act."

Information Minister Mohammad Affash Adwan said in a statement Saturday that Jordan "rejects any military action against Iraq."

In recent weeks, Jordan has denied Arab and Western media reports suggesting it would let U.S. troops use Jordanian air bases if America attacks Iraq.

While Al-Salihi said he hoped the United States and its allies would help Iraqis topple Saddam, he advised against any military effort that would target Iraqi civilians or ordinary soldiers or leave the country in need of rebuilding.

"The infrastructure, bridges, factories, these should not be targeted," he said. "The aim is Saddam."

The meeting was closed to reporters, but several participants spoke to The Associated Press.

Al-Salihi said the group would issue a message to Iraqi soldiers and officers on Sunday, urging them to move against Saddam and warning his regime is nearing its end.

Tawfik al-Yassiri, secretary general of the Iraqi National Coalition, said the group was also drafting a "declaration of honor," promising its support to any effort to overthrow Saddam and outlining the role of the military in a democratic Iraq.

The officers would vow, he said, that once Saddam is deposed, the new Iraqi army will stay out of politics and protect civilians and their institutions, not oppress them.

Aziz Kadir Samanchi, a former Iraqi brigadier who represents the Front of Iraqi Turkoman, said he looked forward to returning home soon.

"I may be on the first plane" back after Saddam is overthrown, he said.

Samanchi, who fled to Britain in 1991, said he was jailed and tortured in the 1980s after being accused of plotting against the regime.

"I left everything there, I couldn't get anything with me, even my clothes. My house, my credit cards, my land, I left everything when I escaped."

"Our country is in a very dangerous situation, our people have been suffering for three decades," he said. "In Iraq, everybody knows, there is hunger, disease ... they have no freedom."

The United States accuses Saddam of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and supporting terrorists. President Bush has said it is his government's policy to "have a regime change" in Iraq.

Bush, who seems focused for now on covert action, signed an order earlier this year directing the CIA to increase support to Iraqi opposition groups and allowing possible use of CIA and Special Forces teams against Saddam.

If covert attempts fail, some expect Bush to try military action.