Iraqi National Congress
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Iraqi National Congress
المؤتمر الوطني العراقي |
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|---|---|
| Leader | Ahmed Chalabi |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Baghdad, Iraq |
| Newspaper | Al Mutamar |
| Ideology |
Current: Centrism Nonsectarianism Historical: Welfare state Secularism Liberalism |
| National affiliation | Al-Muwatin Coalition |
| Seats in the Council of Representatives of Iraq: |
0 / 328
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| Website | |
| Iraqi National Congress | |
The Iraqi National Congress (Arabic: المؤتمر الوطني العراقي Al-Moutammar Al-Watani Al-'Iraqi) is an Iraqi political party that was led by Ahmed Chalabi who died in 2015. It was formed as an umbrella opposition group with the aid and direction of the United States government following the Gulf War, for the purpose of fomenting the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
INC was set up following the Persian Gulf War to coordinate the activities of various anti-Saddam groups. Then President George H. W. Bush signed a presidential finding directing the Central Intelligence Agency to create conditions for Saddam's removal in May 1991. Coordinating anti-Saddam groups was an important element of this strategy. The name INC was reportedly coined by public relations expert John Rendon (of the Rendon Group agency) and the group was funded by the United States. The group received millions in covert funding in the 1990s, and then about $8 million a year in overt funding after the passage of the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998. The deep involvement of the American CIA in the creation and early funding of the INC in its early years led many to consider the group a "creation of the CIA" rather than an organ of genuine Iraqi opposition.
INC represented the first major attempt by opponents of Saddam to join forces, bringing together Kurds of all religions, Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs (both Islamic fundamentalist and secular) as well as non-Muslim Arabs; additionally monarchists, nationalists and ex-military officers. In June 1992, nearly 200 delegates from dozens of opposition groups met in Vienna, along with Iraq's two main Kurdish militias, the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). In October 1992, major Shi'ite groups, including the SCIRI and al-Dawa, came into the coalition and INC held a pivotal meeting in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, choosing a Leadership Council and a 26-member executive council. The leaders included monarchist Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein that called for the return of a constitutional monarchy for Iraq, moderate Shi'ite Muslim cleric Mohammad Bahr al-Ulloum; ex-Iraqi general Hasan Naqib; and Masoud Barzani. Ahmed Chalabi, a secular Shi'ite Iraqi-American and mathematician by training, became head of the group.
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