Rumsfeld: Iraqi Opposition Is Helping Bring Down Hussein Regime

At the current time, anti-Iraq coalition is interacting with more than six different opposition groups, including Kurds and Shiites, and is trying to bring down the regime of Saddam Hussein, said U.S. Defence Minister Donald Rumsfeld at a briefing in the Pentagon on Wednesday. He said these groups give the coalition support in different and various ways, including fighting activity. Rumsfeld also said that the arrival on 6 April of Iraq leader Akhmed Chalabi and several hundred of his supporters to Southern Iraq after being exiled in London did not mean that they are seeking a place in the future Iraqi government. 'The Iraqi people will decide for themselves the make-up of their future government,' said Rumsfeld. The role of retired general Jay Garner in Iraq will be centered on the coordination of the civil administration, including the creation of a new Iraqi government and organization of effective humanitarian aid. Garner will not be engaged with questions of security or stabilizing the situation, said Rumsfeld. Jay Garner, who after the Persian Gulf war in 1991 organized humanitarian aid to the Kurds of Northern Iraq, will now head up the creation of the management of the reconstruction and humanitarian aid of Iraq through the U.S. Department of Defence.