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Iraq opposition urges democracy
By CNN's Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman
MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Iraqi opposition parties ended a three-day meeting in Madrid Sunday by calling for a "pluralist, federal democratic system in Iraq" and demanding that Saddam Hussein to stand trial for crimes against humanity. The meeting, which included more than 100 Iraqis from 13 political groups, was the first to include a broad spectrum of Iraqi opposition parties outside Iraq since the war began. A similar meeting was held in London before the war. The document released Sunday, titled the "Madrid Declaration," did not call for an Islamic state in Iraq, as some had wanted, nor did it thank the U.S.-led coalition for "liberating Iraq" as others had wanted, participants told CNN. The call for deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to stand trial "for crimes committed against the Iraqi people and against humanity" stems from the belief among many conference participants that he is still alive, said Carlos Kurdi, an Iraqi exile and a leader in Spain of the Kurdistan Democratic Party. "The conversation in the hallways is that everyone thinks he's alive. That's why we included it in the declaration," Kurdi told CNN. But Amer Alghabban, an Iraqi exile pharmaceuticals executive who lives in Switzerland, said no one at the meeting knows for sure whether Saddam is alive. The clause about putting him on trial, Alghabban said, was included to make sure he comes to justice if he is still alive. The Madrid Declaration said the new Iraqi government should guarantee human rights for all "nationalities, ethnic groups and the rights of women," and urged parties to "accelerate the formation of an independent, transition coalition government with the participation of Iraqi political forces." The five-point declaration called for a quick return to security and stability in Iraq and a full accounting of those held prisoner or who went missing under Saddam's regime. It also called on the international community to respect the transition government and to help in rebuilding Iraq. The declaration did not specifically mention, much less endorse, the U.S.-led effort to establish a temporary administration in Iraq. Some of the groups involved in the meeting have kept their distance from U.S. efforts to rebuild Iraq. Participants included representatives from the Iraqi National Congress, the Shiite party Al Dawa, and Kurdish groups of northern Iraq, as well as Iraqi intellectuals and independent businessmen. They seemed divided on how much impact the Madrid Declaration would have on leaders of various factions inside Iraq, who will meet this week to talk about the nation's future. Akram al Hakim, a founding member of the influential Shiite group called the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, told CNN the Madrid Declaration "is one step along the long road." The declaration's principles are similar to ones which Iraqi opposition parties adopted at pre-war meetings in London and in Ebril, northern Iraq, Hakim said. But he said the Madrid conference included a discussion of "more details," which he did not specify. "It surely has an effect. Now, everybody is looking at us in Madrid," Hakim told CNN. But Abdul Hussain Shaban, a British-based Iraqi exile involved in human rights groups, said the Madrid Declaration was little more than a press release. "This is less than a platform; it's just a statement," Hussain Shaban told CNN. But Amer Alghabban, an Iraqi exile pharmaceuticals executive in Switzerland, said he was surprised that a meeting with such divergent viewpoints could agree even on a set of minimum points. "I was stunned by the level of consensus that I didn't think I would see," Alghabban told CNN. Two Spanish private foundations -- with strong backing by the Spanish government -- organized the conference, held at a government building in Madrid. Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose staunch support for the U.S.-led war in Iraq was at odds with pre-war opinion polls that said 90 percent of Spaniards opposed the war, addressed the meeting on its opening day last Friday. Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio presided over the closing session on Sunday, during which Kurdi read the declaration aloud and was met by a hearty round of applause.
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