DATE=10/31/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=IRAQI OPPOSITION (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255673
BYLINE=LARRY FREUND
DATELINE=NEW YORK
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Some 300 representatives of Iraqi opposition
groups are concluding a four-day conference in New
York aimed at uniting against Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein. Correspondent Larry Freund reports from New
York.
TEXT: The meeting was organized by the Iraqi National
Congress, a London-based opposition group, and
supported by the United States. It concludes (Monday
8:30 AM EST) with a speech by U-S Under Secretary of
State Thomas Pickering and a news conference that may
indicate the success the opposition groups have had in
ending their divisions.
The conference brought together a number of opposition
groups, including rival Kurdish factions, but was not
attended by the Supreme Council for the Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, a major group based in Iran. An
Iraqi newspaper has attacked the opposition groups
attending the meeting, calling them traitors.
Several American legislators, including Senators Sam
Brownback and Bob Kerrey, urged the opposition groups
to unite against Saddam Hussein. Congressman Benjamin
Gilman, chairman of the House of Representatives
Committee on International Relations, said he wants
the Clinton Administration to do more to assist the
Iraqi opposition. But first, he said, the opposition
must do more to unite itself.
/// GILMAN ACTUALITY ///
You must spell out a program for freeing your
country, and then you must commit yourselves to
implementing that program. We in the Congress
stand ready to support you. If, as a product of
this meeting, you bring to us a credible plan
for escalating the challenge to Saddam Hussein,
we will do everything we can to help you carry
out that plan. (applause)
/// END ACTUALITY ///
Congress has already authorized the expenditure of 97-
million dollars to support efforts of the opposition
groups to topple Saddam Hussein. But in remarks to
reporters, Congressman Gilman criticized the Clinton
Administration for providing only limited assistance
so far, saying you can't upset a government with just
a fax machine.(Signed)
NEB/NY/LSF/gm
31-Oct-1999 18:03 PM EDT (31-Oct-1999 2303 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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