Iraqi National Congress

BAGHDAD, Iraq - In the hours before American bombs began falling on the Iraqi capital, one of Saddam Hussein's sons and a close adviser carried off nearly $1 billion in cash from the country's Central Bank, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials here. The removal of the money, which would amount to one of the largest bank robberies in history, was performed under the direct orders of Hussein, according to an Iraqi official with knowledge of the incident. The official, who asked not to be identified, said that no financial rationale had been offered for removing the money from the bank's vaults and that no one had been told where the money would be taken.

WASHINGTON - The United States is gearing up to train several thousand Iraqi exiles at an airbase in Hungary to serve as translators, guides and intermediaries for U.S. forces if President Bush decides to go to war against Saddam Hussein, defense officials said. Pentagon officials say the military training is designed to prepare the Iraqi exiles for critical support roles, not turn them into combat soldiers. The exiles' knowledge of Iraq could prove invaluable as guides for U.S. troops entering Baghdad and other cities.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Shiite anger at the U.S. occupation of Iraq boiled over here yesterday as thousands marched through the streets accusing American troops of violating Muslim customs and unjustly arresting a Shiite cleric. Adding to the fury, Shiite political leaders said, is a new U.S. plan to appoint an interim political council of Iraqis. Some Shiites see the plan as a thinly disguised move to limit the influence of their religious leaders in the postwar administration of Iraq. Other political organizations, including the Iraqi National Congress, a former exile group, also are dismayed at the plan put forth Sunday by top U.S. administrator L. Paul Bremer III. The U.S. plan to name a council of 25 to 30 prominent Iraqis would scuttle an earlier proposal for a broad national conference to elect an interim government.

LONDON - With only a few days to go before this weekend's conference of Iraqi dissidents here, the meeting's organizers realized they had some unfinished business before they could consider weightier matters, such as who could lead Iraq if President Saddam Hussein is removed from power. For example, no one had reserved a hotel conference room for the meeting, so there was no place to meet. And while dealing with that problem, the organizers acknowledged that they had no written agenda, no agreed-upon topics of conversation, no crafted statements to issue, however innocuous.

WASHINGTON - Ahmad Chalabi, the one-time White House favorite who has been implicated in an alleged Iranian spy operation, sent Iraqi defectors to at least eight Western spy services before the war in an apparent effort to dupe them about Saddam Hussein's illicit weapons programs, current and former U.S. intelligence officials said. U.S. investigators now are seeking to determine if the effort was secretly supported by Iran's intelligence service to help persuade the Bush administration to oust the Baghdad regime, Tehran's longtime enemy.

WASHINGTON - Even as President Bush was on Capitol Hill the other day bucking up fellow Republicans over the disintegrating administration policy in Iraq, more evidence was surfacing that the wheels are coming off that policy. The home of the one-time darling of the Pentagon, Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi, secretly returned to his native land earlier from London, was being raided by Iraqi police and U.S. troops. It was only the latest indignity to the man his American champions once cast as his country's George Washington.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The likelihood that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein will be tried anytime soon is "remote," a U.S. official said yesterday, nearly a week after Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said that the trial could begin in October. The U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the fragile security situation was contributing to the delay because the tribunal could not easily travel in Iraq to investigate Hussein's alleged crimes against his people. They could not visit the sites of mass graves or be guaranteed their personal security, the official said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - While publicly stressing the need for Iraqis to control their own destiny, the Bush administration is working behind the scenes to coax its closest Iraqi allies into a coalition that could dominate elections scheduled for January. U.S. authorities in Washington and Iraqi politicians say that top White House officials have told leaders of the six major parties that were on the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council that it would be in their common interest to present a unified electoral slate.

WASHINGTON - President Bush faces increased pressure to seek the violent overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein now that a U.S. plan to reinvigorate 10-year- old sanctions on Baghdad has been stymied, U.S. officials and analysts said. Yesterday's shelving of the "smart sanctions" plan because of Russia's objections was a major setback for one of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell's first initiatives and appeared to leave U.S. policy on Iraq in disarray. The sanctions, meant to prevent Hussein from rebuilding his military machine and weapons of mass destruction, are increasingly being ignored by Iraq's neighbors, frustrating U.S. efforts to contain the durable Iraqi leader.

Echoing protesters in Iraq, members of Iraqi exile groups in the United States complained yesterday that U.S. officials had hand-picked the 100 or so participants at Tuesday's meeting in Ur to plan a new Iraqi government. They singled out Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, who they said received special treatment, including transportation to Iraq, because of his close ties to the U.S. government. Chalabi did not attend the meeting but sent a representative. "Airlifting Chalabi and his group to Ur sent a very bad message to the people of Iraq," said Rahman Aljebouri, a member of the Washington-based Iraqi National Group.