Anti-Saddam groups plan amnesty offer for Iraqi soldiers

SULAYMANIYAH, Iraq -- The main factions opposing Saddam Hussein plan to use broadcasts and clandestine leaflets to promise ordinary Iraqi soldiers a general postwar amnesty, a top opposition figure said Tuesday.

The decision to offer blanket freedom for rank-and-file troops was part of a key war planning session this week between the largest anti-Saddam groups in coordination with American officials, said Noshirwan Mustafa, a founding member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main Kurdish groups.

Other plans for a possible post-Saddam Iraq include quickly establishing opposition group offices in Baghdad and other key locations to try to halt revenge attacks against the current Iraqi regime.

"We will try to stop every type of revenge. ... We will try to show the world a civilized face," Mustafa told The AP.

The three-day opposition strategy session, which ended Tuesday, brought together the leading groups at a lakeside resort in Dukan in the Western-protected Kurdish safe haven in northern Iraq. The agenda apparently focused on how to handle the potential lawless aftermath following Saddam's collapse in a possible U.S.-led assault.

Opposition groups will use underground networks to distribute leaflets among the Iraqi military offering a general amnesty for most soldiers, said Mustafa. Radio and television stations will broadcast the same message.

The amnesty plan, he said, was designed to avoid huge numbers of POWs and seek quick reintegration of soldiers into a post-Saddam administration.

But it could also offer cover for Iraqi military and political leaders to try to slip away.

"We will take that chance," said Mustafa. "It is better than hundreds of thousands of war prisoners."

He said U.S. authorities know about the amnesty offer but he declined to say if envoys from Washington were at the meeting, which included the Iran-based Shiite Muslim faction Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq; the Iraqi National Congress, a London-based umbrella organization, and the two main Kurdish groups: the PUK and the Kurdistan Democratic Party.

Mustafa did not say when the amnesty campaign could begin, but suggested it could get under way even as the U.N. Security Council struggles with the Iraq crisis.

Key development in the Iraq crisis

Facing almost certain defeat in the Security Council, the United States and Britain signaled they would extend for a short period a deadline for Saddam Hussein to disarm or face war. The White House insisted that the resolution would be put to a vote this week but said a proposal being floated to push back the March 17 deadline by a month was "a non-starter."

France said it was "open to dialogue" but will not budge on the fundamentals it has championed since the start of the crisis.

Iraqi fighter jets threatened two American U-2 surveillance planes, forcing them to abort their mission and return to base, U.S. officials said. A Pentagon official said the decision to end the mission was made "in the interest of safety." Iraq said the U.N. had apologized for the incident and called a "technical mistake."

Pakistan, one of 10 non-permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, said it will abstain from voting on a U.S.-backed resolution approving war with Iraq.

Japan has been lobbying undecided Security Council members to urge support for the U.S.-backed resolution. In one call, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told Mexican President Vicente Fox that international divisions were putting the United Nations' authority at stake, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul resigned as expected, clearing the way for the leader of his party to take power. Despite overwhelming domestic opposition to a war, party leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan has advocated allowing U.S. combat troops in and has hinted that he favored resubmitting a motion to parliament to give U.S. soldiers the go-ahead.

Polls showed Bush's approval rating has dropped into the low to mid-50s while two-thirds support military action against Iraq. About the same percentage say U.N. support is desirable but not necessary if the United States has the support of other countries like Australia, Britain and Spain.

A top Australian intelligence adviser resigned to protest the Prime Minister John Howard's hardline policy on Iraq.

Secretary of State Colin Powell voiced alarm over the U.N. inspector's report that Iraq has unmanned drone aircraft capable of dispensing chemical weapons. Chief U.N. weapons inspectors Hans Blix later told the council that the drone did not constitute a "smoking gun." Blix said there was no indication yet that the unmanned vehicle was illegal.

Cafeterias on Capitol Hill are serving up a side order of patriotism after GOP lawmakers decided to drop references to "French." Menus in House office building cafeterias are now serving "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" to protest French opposition to U.S. military action in Iraq.

-- AP