Rebel Group Claims Military Ties

A new Iraqi rebel movement, claiming wide contacts in the Iraqi military, announced plans Friday to unite opposition groups in a campaign to oust Saddam Hussein.

“We feel this is the first serious attempt to unite the major opposition groups by having them all co-sponsor a conference of all Iraqis,” said Saad Saleh Jabr, spokesman for the new movement, called the Iraqi Central Committee for Dialogue and Follow-up.

Gen. Aref Abdel Razzak, a former Iraqi prime minister and chairman of the movement, said he quit the opposition Iraqi National Congress because it did not represent Sunni Muslims, who dominate the officers corps in the army and who would be “the pillars” of any attempt to overthrow Hussein.

Asked about support for a coup within the Iraqi military, Razzak said: “Everyone is willing to do so when the opportunity is likely to be successful.”

“We feel we have more officers and are more in contact with . . . the officer corps inside Iraq,” Jabr said. “But what we have is not enough. What they (the congress) have is not enough. But if we pull it all together, maybe we get at least a very good step forward.”