Saddam's party 'ready to help US withdrawal'

Telegraph.UK

Saddam Hussein's political heirs claimed yesterday that the reduction in British troops in southern Iraq would represent a breaking point for the American-led coalition.

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A leader of Iraq's Ba'athist Party, the nationalist movement that ruled the country under Saddam, also said that they had forged a list of pre-conditions for direct talks with the Americans and would offer to help pave the way for the eventual withdrawal of US forces.

The member of the group of ex-regime loyalists living in exile in Syria said the party had the support of some of the most prominent insurgent groups in Iraq.

"Blair made Britain a satellite for the US," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Mohammad during a rare interview in a Damascus coffee shop.

"Bush humiliated America and Blair humiliated Britain. If they [Britain] pull out they will break one wing of the occupation."

Iraqi politicians in contact with Ba'ath Party loyalists, who went underground to lead a guerrilla war against the coalition after Saddam was deposed in 2003, verified that the man was a recognised representative of the party.

Puffing on a Havana cigar, he appeared confident that it would soon regain a powerful role in Iraqi. America's difficulties establishing a stable, secure post-Saddam democratic state made, he predicted, a troop withdrawal inevitable.

When US troops went, the government, which was installed after elections in 2005, would fall. "American cannot add new troops to achieve a military solution in Iraq, it is now looking for a political solution," he said.

"But it will not find it in those structures it has set up. They will collapse and the agents and traitors will run away with the occupiers."

Iran's sponsorship of violence against US troops and the presence of al-Qa'eda in Iraq would, he said, push American into dealing again with the Ba'ath Party.

"The Americans face a bad failure," he said. "To keep their national pride they should sit with resistance leaders to put in place a plan to fix al-Qa'eda, achieve stability in Iraq and end Iranian intervention.

"To announce their goodwill they should officially accept Iraq's rights as we have set out, backed by the UN and the international community, and then put forward a withdrawal plan.

"Maybe the withdrawal will take months but it should not take a long time. The schedule can be drawn up by resistance and American military experts together according to military needs."

Although Saddam's former deputy, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is recognised by party members as their leader, his whereabouts are unknown. Those close to the party say a younger guard, including Abu Mohammad, has taken day-to-day control.