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US to finance Iraqi opposition: Defence secretary
The United States is set to provide financial assistance for the Iraqi opposition to help it establish a presence inside the country, US Defence Secretary William Cohen confirmed.
According to the top US newspaper on Sunday outgoing US President Bill Clinton's administration sent Congress a report stating that some US $ 12 million would be needed for the Iraqi opposition effort. Cohen did not confirm the figure. The plan calls for distributing humanitarian aid in government-controlled areas of Iraq by means of the opposition Iraqi National Congress (INC), the paper reported.
“It is not the intention to start arming and equipping and inserting these individuals into Iraq at this point,” Cohen cautioned.
He said that President-elect George W Bush must first develop
a consensus with the Arab community, because he will need
support from the Gulf states, to carry out such a mission.
But Cohen stressed that it is clear that, until Saddam Hussein is gone, Iraq will not be able to be fully integrated in the family of nations.
Clinton, outgoing Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and many in the current Pentagon leadership have shied away from a full commitment to Saddam's splintered opponents, who are eligible for some US $ 97 million in US assistance under the Iraq Liberation Act.
Bureau Report