High-level US officials met Friday with representatives of four Iraqi opposition groups to discuss their role in efforts to unseat Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
The representatives met with Marc Grossman, undersecretary for political affairs and other officials dealing with the Middle East, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
He expressed the meeting was part of Washington's commitment to working with as broad-based an opposition as possible.
"We continue to discuss the constructive role that they can play in advancing the goals of the Iraqi people," he conveyed, according to AFP.
The four groups are amongst those seeking to organize an opposition conference.
"We are going to have another meeting on Monday to discuss the details (of the conference)," said Hamed al-Bayati, London representative of the Supreme Assembly for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the main Shiite Muslim opposition faction.
The "group of four," as they have come to be known, also includes the National Accord Movement and the two main Kurdish groups sharing control of northern Iraq - the Kurdistan Democratic Party and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.
However, it should be noted that these talks exclude the controversial Iraqi National Congress, a so-called umbrella opposition group that has rocky relations with the United States State Department.
Washington has repeatedly slated its intention to see the Iraqi leader toppled, but officials denied any concrete plans to act against him. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
