Iraqi National Accord
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Iraqi National Accord
الوفاق الوطني العراقي |
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|---|---|
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| Leader | Ayad Allawi |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters |
Baghdad, Iraq London, United Kingdom |
| Newspaper | Baghdad News |
| Ideology |
Progressivism Secularism Liberalism |
| Political position | Centre |
| National affiliation | Al-Wataniya Coalition |
| International affiliation | None |
| Seats in the Council of Representatives of Iraq: |
21 / 328
|
| Website | |
| http://www.wifaq.com/ | |
The Iraqi National Accord (Arabic: الوفاق الوطني العراقي Al-Wifaq Al-Watani Al-'Iraqi) known inside Iraq as Wifaq is an Iraqi political party founded by Iyad Allawi, Tahsin Muallah and Salah Omar al-Ali in 1991.
It was founded at the time of the Persian Gulf War as an opposition group to Saddam Hussein. At that time, the two most active anti-Saddam groups were the SCIRI and al-Dawa; both were Islamic Shi'ite parties, originating from Iraq, but operating from Iran from which they received support. Both parties were disagreeable to the western powers, and Saudi Arabia, who had long poor relations with the Islamic Republic. The INA was thus set up to be an alternative, largely funded by money from Saudi Arabia; with extra support coming from the UK and the United States.
INA membership consisted largely of military and security personnel who had defected from the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein's rule.
The INA organised attacks in Iraq between 1992 and 1995 to demonstrate its capacities as a militant group, but these had little effect on the government. In August 1995, Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamel al-Majid authorized the INA to operate from Jordan after he too defected. Unlike the Iraqi National Congress strategy of fomenting revolution among Iraq's disaffected minorities, the INA felt the best way to remove Saddam was organizing a coup among Iraqi military and security services. To this end, the INA - in close cooperation with the CIA - was involved in a coup against Saddam in 1996. However, the INA had been infiltrated by agents loyal to Saddam, and in June, 1996, 30 Iraqi military officers were executed and 100 others were arrested for alleged ties to the INA. Allawi has claimed INA remained active in Iraq as of March, 1998.
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