ALAWI Dr Ayad

Leader of the INA. Supported by the CIA.

BARZANI Mas'ud

Leader of the KDP. Born on 16 August, 1946, in Mahabad (Iran), where his father, the late General Mustafa Barzani, was military chief of a self-declared Kurdish republic. When the republic fell, his father fled to the Soviet Union, while Mas’ud and the rest of his family returned to Iraq, and eventually to their home village, Barzan. In 1961 Mustafa Barzani and the KDP launched an armed struggle against the Iraqi government, which Mas’ud joined at the age of 16. In 1970 Mas’ud was in a delegation which signed an autonomy agreement with Baghdad, but this later collapsed and the armed struggle resumed. In 1979, following the death of his father, Mas’ud became president of the KDP - a post which he has held ever since. He is married with eight children and is the author of a book, "Barzani and the Kurdish Liberation Movement", published in Arabic and in three volumes. See KDP presidential website, also the life of Mustafa Barzani.

Massoud Barzani

CHALABI Dr Ahmad

Leader of the INC. A Shi'a Muslim, born 1944/1945. Has not lived in Iraq since 1956, apart from a period organising resistance in the Kurdish north in the mid-1990s. Studied mathematics at Chicago University and MIT. His main political support comes from the US Congress, the Pentagon and parts of the CIA. He is opposed by the State Department and other parts of the CIA. He was chairman of the Petra Bank in Jordan which collapsed, ruining many of its depositors, and was eventually convicted (in his absence) of fraud by a Jordanian court. He maintains he is innocent and says the accusations were trumped up by the Iraqi government. The US State Department has also raised questions about the INC's accounting practices. In 1995 he organised an uprising in northern Iraq, which was called off by the CIA that a critical moment. A highly controversial figure, he is certainly charismatic and determined, though many also regard him as domineering. 
Profiles: The Guardian (22 February, 2002); Washington Post (21 April, 1999).

HAKIM Mohammed Baqr al-

Leader of SCIRI. Unlikely to become president of Iraq after Saddam because of American wariness about his links with Iran, but a powerful figure who is difficult to ignore. See his website (in Arabic).

Mohammed Baqr al-Hakim

HUSSEIN Sharif Ali bin al-

Leader of the CMM and heir to the Iraqi throne. Born in Baghdad in 1956, he is a cousin of the late King Faisal II, who was deposed and assassinated in 1958. Educated in Lebanon and Britain (MA in economics). Wealthy, immaculately dressed, and generally pleasant but his regal manner puts some people off. He promises to "remain above factional disputes and political manoeuvering" if he becomes king. 
See website.

Sharif Ali

Represents the Islamic Dawa Party.

JABR Sa'ad

Leader of the FIC. A Shi'a Muslim and son of a former Iraqi prime minister. Left Iraq in 1968. Now has American citizenship but lives in London.

KHAZRAJI General Nizar al-

Born 1937/1938, he is the highest-ranking military defector from Iraq. He served as Saddam's chief of staff  from 1980 until 1991, leading the army through the Iran-Iraq war and the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 (though he now says he did not really agree with that). He fled to the west in 1996 and was granted political asylum in Denmark. Although the main Kurdish parties appear to support him, but a smaller Kurdish group has sought to have him prosecuted for war crimes. This relates to his alleged role in the use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988. Khazraji says the allegations have been invented by Iraqi intelligence services. There are claims that he was reluctant to leave Iraq, but that the CIA induced him to do so with promises of a major political role. In a newspaper interview he appeared eager to take over from Saddam, describing it as an honour and "a sacred duty". This may have damaged his leadership prospects because some in the Iraqi opposition now suspect his motives. He believes the Iraqi military will rise up against Saddam if they are supported by a lot of carefully targeted American firepower.

PACHACHI Adnan 

A former Iraqi foreign minister and ambassador to the UN who is now secretary general of the opposition DCT. Potentially a key player in post-Saddam Iraq, but has said he wants only a facilitating role. A Sunni Muslim.

SALIHI Brigadier-General Najib al-

Born 1951/1952. A Sunni Muslim who appears to have support among the Shi'a (he comes from a large tribe - the Beni Salih - which embraces Sunni and Shia Muslims and some Turkmen). Has run an group called the Free Officers Movement since 1996, claims he can raise 30,000 fighters. Favours a three-pronged infantry assault on Baghdad from Kurdish Iraq, Kuwait and, if possible, Jordan, without the use of US ground troops. He has avoided giving the impression of power-hungriness, and at conferences in the US has argued that the military should not be directly engaged in politics. He emerged as front-runner in an internet poll conducted by Iraq.net to find who Iraqis would most like to lead a transitional government. The poll was abandoned after a few days, allegedly because of suspicious voting activity, but possibly because it showed little popular support for other prominent figures.

SAMARA'I Maj. Gen. Wafiq al-

Former head of an Iraqi military intelligence unit, he left Iraq in the mid-1990s and now lives in London. He is sceptical about using exiles to start a revolt, preferring a "quick covert operation," run by the CIA, to eliminate Saddam.

SHAMARI General Fawzi al-

Born 1945/1946. Commanded nine divisions in the Iran-Iraq war and admits to firing chemical weapons against the Iranians. He defected in 1986 and now runs a  restaurant in Virginia, USA. Favours a guerrilla war to remove Saddam.

TALABANI Jalal

President of the PUK since it was established in 1975. Born in Kelkan in 1933, he became active in the Kurdish opposition during his teens and eventually joined the central committee of the KDP. Worked for a time as a journalist and after the 1958 revolution commanded an Iraqi army tank unit. Joined the Kurdish rebellion which began 1961. In 1975 he split with the KDP and founded the PUK. Talabani is critical of exiled anti-Saddam groups, and distinguishes between the "opposition of the trenches and the opposition of the hotels". Interviews: Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2002); Frontline.

Jalal Talabani