Iraqi opposition meeting in New York disputes
United Arab Emirates-Iraq, Politics, 11/1/1999

Regarding the conference which started in new York on Friday and which is considered the first conference for the Iraqi opposition in seven years. It is being held in the absence of basic Iraqi organizations.

The official spokesman for the Islamic Labor Organization in Iraq, Jawad al-Attar, has denied what has been stated by certain media on the participation of the organization in the meetings of the Iraqi National Congress in New York.

Al-Attar stressed in a statement circulated in Damascus on Saturday that the organization has no representative nor a member to these meetings. Al-Attar continued that the organizations decided not to take part in the meetings of the Iraqi National Congress because of differences in the proposed representation of the leadership and the actual reality of the Iraqi people and the absence of an Islamic presence in the conference's leading commission.

On Friday, the first conference for the Iraqi opposition was opened in New York in the absence of important organizations, especially the Shiite.

AFP said that more than 300 representatives of the Iraqi opposition in exile, traditionally known for their great divisions, met at the invitation of the Iraqi National Congress, which introduces itself as the main alliance for the opposition.

According to its organizers, the conference aims at asserting the unity of the opposition, electing a new leadership and reaching an agreement on the strategy and work program to topple the Iraqi government.

In a lengthy speech, the US ambassador in charge of war crimes, David Schiffer, described the ruling authorities in Baghdad "as a group of devils which implants horror" and that the US is "determined to see this gang of criminals deprived of power and being brought to the justice, if possible."

However, a great number of important formations with a Shiite majority, had in the recent days announced their boycott of the meeting and criticized what it had called the US intervention.

In this respect, the representative for the Higher Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (the main Shiite opposition group), which has Iran as a headquarters, Hamid Bayatti said, "We will not take part in this meeting. We see that there is no serious project for a change in Iraq."

Besides, convening this conference in the US inflicts damages to the Iraqi opposition and gives Saddam a pretext to "accuse us of being linked to the West," Bayatti said.

Previous Stories:
  Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq rejects New York opposition meeting   (10/28/1999)
  Cohen ends visit to Riyadh, UAE dailies criticize US policy   (10/21/1999)
  UAE company takes part in Baghdad International Conference   (8/18/1999)
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