Iraqi National Accord - Definition and Overview

The Iraqi National Accord (INA) is an Iraqi political party headed by Iyad Allawi.

It was founded at the time of the Persian Gulf War as a resistance group to the rule of Saddam Hussein. At that time the two most active anti-Saddam groups were the SCIRI and al-Dawa both Shi'ite and based in and supported by Iran. This did not suit the western powers or Saudi Arabia, who had long poor relations with the Islamic Republic. The INA was thus set up to be an alternative. It was largely funded with money from Saudi Arabia and received support from both Britain and the United States.

The INA membership consisted largely of military and security personnel who had defected from the Iraqi army under Saddam Hussein's rule. Because of the perceived connections between INA members and the security forces protecting Saddam Hussein, the INA drew American interest as an alternative ally to the Iraqi National Congress.

The INA organized attacks in Iraq between 1992 and 1995 to demonstrate its capacities as a militant group, but these caused little damage to the regime. In August of 1995, Saddam's son-in-law, Hussein Kamel Majid authorized the INA to operate from Jordan after he defected to there. Unlike the INC stratgey of trying to formebt a revolution among Iraq's disaffected minorities the INA felt that the best way to remove Saddam was to organize a coup among the 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, 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. [1] (http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=agdsULUSsCdo&refer=europe). Allawi has claimed the INA remained active in Iraq as of March, 1998.

With the fall of Saddam the INA entered Iraq playing a central role in the occupation government. With the rift between the United States and the Iraqi National Congress the INA's role was further enhanced and Allawi was declared the Prime Minister of Iraq on 2004-05-28. Under Allawi the INA is participating in the 2005 Iraqi election, in the Iraqi List coaltion. It faces stiff competition from the Shi'ite centred United Iraqi Alliance.

External links

• http://www.wifaq.com/ Iraqi National Accord official website (Arabic)
• http://www.wifaq.com/index_e.html Iraqi National Accord official website (English)
• http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/crs-iraq-op.htm
• http://middleeastreference.org.uk/iraqiopposition.html#ina
• INA's charter (http://www.al-bab.com/arab/docs/iraq/ina02.htm)