- DOHA (AFP) - Iraq's main
Shiite opposition faction, based in Iran, will
- not take part in the "aggressive war" being
waged by the United States
- and its allies on Iraq, its leader said Saturday.
-
- "We believe that the method of dealing with (the
Baghdad) regime should
- not be through war. War is harmful," Mohammad Baqir
Hakim of the
- Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI)
told
- al-Jazeera TV news network.
-
- Therefore "we cannot ... be part of the US action
since we do not
- believe in this action," Hakim said.
-
- SAIRI's armed wing, the Al-Badr Brigade, is believed
to number between
- 10,000 and 15,000 fighters. Many are said to have crossed
into
- Kurdish-held northern Iraq in anticipation of the US-led
war aimed at
- toppling Saddam Hussein.
-
- Hakim told the Qatari television station that because
the war defied
- international public opinion as well as UN Security Council
- resolutions, "we can consider it an aggressive war."
-
- He also said that his group along with the rest of the
Iraqi opposition
- opposed any Turkish intervention in the north of Iraq,
saying that this
- would "make the situation of the Iraqi issue very
serious."
-
- Both SAIRI and one of the main Kurdish opposition groups
said earlier
- Saturday that the Iraqi opposition would be allowed to
rule the country
- immediately after Saddam is ousted from power.
-
- They said the United States had had a change of heart
and abandoned
- plans to install a temporary US military administration.
-
- SAIRI number two Abdelaziz Hakim told AFP on Saturday
that "until now,
- the al-Badr Brigade has not received orders from their
superiors to get
- fully involved (in the conflict) and we do not know when
they will."
-
- Shiite soldiers would, he hoped, play a part in ousting
Saddam "in due
- time", but it would neither be with, nor under the
command, of US
- forces, he said.
-
- Western diplomatic sources in Tehran say that the United
States, which
- sees SAIRI as too close to the Iranian regime for its
liking, has told
- the Shiite opposition that its armed forces were not
authorised to
- enter Iraq after the start of war.
-
- The SAIRI leader was named at a meeting in late February
as part of a
- six-member collective leadership which is set to decide
on a
- post-Saddam interim government.
|
