PR WATCH

Guardian: US falls out with Iraqi opposition

PR Watch has previously written about the origins of the Iraqi
National Congress (INC) as a PR front group created by the Rendon
Group, which has nevertheless become the Bush administration's
preferred source for "intelligence" about Iraq. Now an internal
fight is bubbling over INC's plan to actually become the government
of Iraq after a U.S. invasion. The INC's Ahmad Chalabi wants to
"declare a provisional government when the war starts," a plan that
has "alienated some of Mr Chalabi's most enthusiastic backers in
the Pentagon and in Congress, who fear the announcement of a
provisional government made up of exiles would split anti-Saddam
sentiment inside Iraq." Other opponents of Saddam Hussein, such as
Iraqi political exile Kamil Mahdi, warn that "the objective of the
US is to have regime change without the people of Iraq. ... The
prevalent Iraqi opinion is that a US attack on Iraq would be a
disaster, not a liberation."