US trains Iraqi dissident army to oust Saddam

The US is to spend around $100m training 10,000 Iraqi dissidents to help in a military strike against Saddam Hussein, it was revealed yesterday.

Starting next month, an initial group of 5,000 Iraqis will start combat training at undisclosed locations outside of the Middle East. A further 5,000 will be trained in the second phase.

President George Bush gave his personal approval to the plan when he signed a presidential order on 3 October, approving $92m to fund the training. Congress will be told of the plan this week.

The move marks another step in the US's preparations for a military strike to oust President Saddam, as it presses members of the UN Security Council for a resolution that would approve such action if Iraq fails to admit weapons inspectors. It was reported yesterday that negotiations over such a resolutions are still being held up because of concerns from France.

The training of a Iraqi exile army is another demonstration of America's preparedness to launch a strike even if UN backing is not forthcoming. It also gives tremendous influence to the London-based Iraqi National Congress (INC) – the opposition umbrella group headed by Ahmad Chalabi – which has been asked to provide the names of the 10,000 recruits. "It's a big deal," one Bush administration official told The Washington Post.

The names will be checked by the Pentagon before the recruits are given the go-ahead to receive the training. In addition to combat training, some recruits will be trained to act as spotters and targetters for laser-guided bombs.

At the same time, the US is also considering an Israeli proposal for a joint operation in Iraq's western desert to disarm President Saddam's missiles before they could be launched against Israel. Under the proposal – which was presented during Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's talks with Mr Bush last week – American special forces would be provided with Israeli intelligence on the missile sites and advice on how to disarm them.

The US is also making a concerted effort to persuade North Korea to renounce the nuclear weapons programme, whose acknowledgement by the reclusive Communist regime sent diplomatic shock waves through Washington and the entire Asian region.

The admission by North Korea, and suggestions that it was aided in its endeavour by Pakistan, a crucial US ally in the war against al-Qa'ida, have created a diplomatic tangle which could greatly complicate President Bush's drive to disarm Iraq.

North Korea is accused of seeking to build (indeed, it may already have built) a bomb with the same gas centrifuge technology that President Saddam allegedly wants to acquire. Yet Korea is getting kid-glove treatment, while the Iraqi leader faces imminent invasion to thwart a nuclear threat that may be years off.

Mr Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, insists that Iraq is a "case apart" because it is a proven user of weapons of mass destruction and already in breach of two dozen UN resolutions. There is still a chance that North Korea can be persuaded through diplomacy and by pressure from its neighbours – notably China – to change its ways, she maintains.