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Cheney assures { August 11 2002 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3690-2002Aug10.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3690-2002Aug10.html
Cheney Assures Iraqi Opposition Of U.S. Resolve
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 11, 2002; Page A01
Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld held talks with Iraqi opposition leaders yesterday as the Bush administration began to mobilize Saddam Hussein's opponents and prepare for the day when the Iraqi leader falls from power.
In the opposition's highest-level session with U.S. officials in recent times, Cheney said the administration is committed to ousting Hussein and supporting a democratic and multiethnic government that would abandon Hussein's totalitarian ways. Cheney and Rumsfeld urged the fractious and historically ineffectual opposition groups to toil together, declaring that the United States will work with them.
The vice president, speaking by video hookup from Wyoming, asked a series of specific questions about Iraqi morale and the likely response of the Iraqi military and civilian population to a U.S. assault, according to people who listened. Rumsfeld, in a short visit, told the group that the United States is motivated by the goal of seeing Iraq, an enemy since the Persian Gulf War, free and peaceable.
The meeting was a key part of the administration's effort to invigorate the anti-Hussein forces at a time when President Bush has announced that he wants to unseat Hussein but has not decided how or when. The appeal to the Iraqis reflects the conclusion that the mission could benefit from a credible alternative to Hussein, and that Iraqis themselves must be prepared to rule Iraq once Hussein is gone.
Bush described the oil-rich nation yesterday as "an enemy until proven otherwise." As for Hussein, who boasted last week that invading troops would be "buried in their own coffins," Bush said he has "deep concerns about this man, his regime and his desires to have weapons of mass destruction."
"I have constantly said that we owe it to our children and our children's children to free the world from weapons of mass destruction in the hands of those who hate freedom," Bush told reporters during a golf match near his ranch in Crawford, Tex. "This is a man who has poisoned his own people. I mean, he's had a history of tyranny."
Iraqi opposition leaders arrived in Washington last week at the administration's invitation to demonstrate solidarity against Hussein. The six organizations represented -- including the Iraqi National Congress (INC), two Kurdish groups and an Islamic organization based in Tehran -- have made a show of declaring their commitment to pluralism and unity.
At the opening of yesterday's meeting, they even read a joint statement to Cheney, declaring their determination to work together and their support for the U.S. policy of ending Hussein's dictatorship, said INC member Nabeel Musawi.
But the groups' record of rivalry is formidable, and skepticism within the administration remains high. Likewise, previous U.S. administrations have themselves lost focus after pledging loyalty to anti-Hussein forces. Bush administration officials who have dueled over which opposition groups to support -- and how -- say they are working to present a united front of their own.
An Iraqi opposition figure "made the point very tellingly that we've done this before and things kind of fell apart," a U.S. official said yesterday. "But, right now, we sense that this is a special moment. The reenergizing of this process is important, and it's what's happened. We have to progress."
What could make things different this time is the White House's determination to challenge Hussein, say officials involved in planning the sessions with the opposition. Although the means of toppling the Iraqi leader remain the subject of intense debate inside the administration, pressure is building to establish links with Iraqis who could survive him.
"A lot of momentum has built across the board, where things that were between difficult and impossible before, at a variety of levels, are now achievable and necessary," a senior administration official said on Friday after an array of U.S. representatives, briefly including Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, met with the Iraqis at the State Department.
The official added that the administration told the Iraqis that they must "engage more deeply and prominently" with one another and with an international community that doubts their intentions and abilities. The administration is starting with public sessions with the best-known groups but is also working with others, including former military officers with connections to Hussein's forces.
"I think the administration is certainly projecting a sense of confidence that it is serious about regime change in Iraq," said one Iraqi who attended yesterday's meeting. "It is thinking very seriously about the process of change and the role of the opposition in that, as well as the post-Saddam Iraq."
The Iraqi added: "What we have witnessed with these guys is a very deliberative process of these guys assessing all risks." He said the administration is examining ways the opposition can help politically in Iraq "and possibly other ways as well." He declined to elaborate.
People on both sides of the talks say there has been little discussion in the recent meetings about specifics, such as U.S. training or financial support. The opposition groups, some of which have received millions of dollars in U.S. aid, say they can accomplish little without outside help. Further discussions are expected to take place this week.
High-profile voices in Congress and abroad have suggested that support for any attack on Hussein will be given more readily if the White House has developed a plausible plan for what comes after. They have questioned whether Iraq's borders would remain firm, or whether the country would split apart. Who would emerge to take power? How much responsibility would the United States have for establishing stability and rebuilding the country?
Danielle Pletka, a former Senate staffer who is now at the American Enterprise Institute, called the new interest in the opposition groups "significant" and even "wonderful." But she said the Bush team should go further.
"They could name them as some sort of transitional administration," Pletka said. "If they really wanted to be daring, they could suggest that they're establishing a government in exile in northern Iraq, and they could guarantee their security."
Administration officials say they will be watching first to see how well the six organizations can work together to develop a political program, organize a broad conference of anti-Hussein forces and carry their message to governments in the region.
Staff writer Mike Allen in Crawford, Tex., contributed to this report.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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