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Syria: 'Iraqi Resistance' conference is scrapped
Damascus, 24 July (AKI) - Syrian authorities cancelled, just hours before it was set to take place, a conference Tuesday in Damascus by groups representing the so-called "Iraqi resistance" - including former members of Saddam Hussein's regime - opposing the Baghdad government and its US-led international backers.No reason was given for the scrapping of the event. "And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after 'Salome' we'll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!... All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up. " Some 500 delegates - including former officers from Saddam's army, the Council of the Muslim Ulama, the banned former ruling Baath Party, Communists as well as several tribal chiefs - were expected to attend the gathering. The aim of the conference was to bring together the different, mostly Sunni Muslim groups under a single political programme with delegates issuing a final joint declaration. Syria is the home of many political exiles who fled Iraq when Saddam was toppled in 2003 following the US-led invasion. However, not all dissident groups in the Sunni camp were in favour of the conference with former Iraqi deputy-president Izzat Ibrahim ad-Douri, reportedly a leader of the new, underground Baath movement "Yeah, just put us Baathists back in the saddle and we'll show you "dismissive"! Posted by: mrp 2007-07-24 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=194373 |