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• Iraqi Peace Could Be Harder Than War • War and Science Have Long, Uneasy History • Locking Out Household Mold With Steel

As President Saddam Hussein's regime crumbles, many former exiles are already back in Iraq trying to rebuild a country devastated by war and dictatorship and build power bases for themselves.

The Iraqi opposition is divided along ethnic, political and religious lines rivalries that kept the factions from forming a united front that might have had more influence with the United States. Now there are fears returned exiles will spend more time carving out fiefdoms than reforming Iraq.

Iraqi dissidents said several men who had been Saddam's top army officers also are back and helping coalition forces. Some exiled journalists have returned to southern Iraq with the aim of launching a radio service to replace official Iraqi radio. Others said they are planning to publish a newspaper that will pioneer a free press.

Prominent among the returned exiles are politician Ahmad Chalabi, Shiite leader Abdel Majid al-Khoei, and Youssef al-Khairallah, a tribal chief.

Al-Khairallah, who returned to his hometown of Rifaee in Nasiriya province 180 miles south of Baghdad, said he and his tribe were able to restore the town and other adjacent villages to normal.

He said all government offices, police stations, schools and hospitals have resumed services while electricity and water supplies were restored.

"We want to build a new Iraq, an Iraq that is a place of peace and opportunities for all its citizens," he said by satellite phone. "This is a good beginning."

Chalabi aspires to lead post-Saddam Iraq, but many have questioned the extent of his support. In a statement issued Sunday by his London-based Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi portrayed himself as an important force, claiming he had moved to the southern city of Nasiriya with 700 members of the 1st Battalion Free Iraqi Forces. The Free Iraqi Forces are exiles trained to help the U.S. military by serving as interpreters and guides.

"We are proud to contribute our forces to Operation Iraqi Freedom," the group's statement quoted Chalabi as saying. "The war of national liberation which Iraqis have waged for 30 years is now nearing its end. We call on the Iraqi people to join with us in removing the final remnants of Saddam's Baathist regime."

Al-Khoei, a son of the late Ayatollah Abu al-Qassim al-Khoei, the spiritual leader of millions of Iraqi Shiites, said by telephone Monday that he and a group of exiled Iraqis have helped persuade locals in the southern city of Najaf to cooperate with U.S. troops. Other Shiite clerics have ruled against such cooperation.

Al-Khoei had lived in London since he defected after the 1991 Shiite uprising crushed by Saddam. He said he had returned to Najaf shortly after it was liberated by the U.S. troops last week to try help calm the Shiite holy city and restore order. By getting in early, he also may get a jump on other Shiite leaders in building popularity.

Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, whose Shiite Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq is the largest Iraqi opposition group, has decided to return to Iraq from his exile in Iran. His spokesman, Haj Abu Zeid, said al-Hakim had not yet decided when he would go.

Al-Hakim's group, which claims to have 10,000 fighters, has said for years that it has spread guerrillas throughout Iraq in anticipation of a revolution. Abu Zeid said the group has told its troops inside Iraq to not confront U.S.-led forces and await Saddam's fall. However, he reiterated his group's rejection of a U.S. administration in Iraq.

Before the war, America warned Shiite groups in Iran to stay out of the fighting. So far they have. The majority of Iraq's 24 million people are Shiites.

On Sunday, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said a U.S.-led coalition probably will run Iraq for at least six months until a new government is in place.

Some Iraqis have urged the United Nations to administer Iraq, a position favored by some Arab nations, as well as France, Germany and Russia, which opposed opposing the war.

The United States made it clear that a U.N.-administered government probably won't happen.

The shape of Iraq's postwar government is still largely unknown. U.S. officials who will oversee the nation's transition to peace are waiting just across the border in Kuwait.

photo credit and caption:

Local women carry water, behind a soldier from The 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment of teh Britijsh Army in the Iraqi village of Qaryat Nasr north of Basra, Monday April 7, 2003. AP Photo/Chris Ison, PA, Pool)

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