Iraq generals urged to stage coup

Saudi Arabia is urging Iraqi generals to stage a coup to oust Saddam Hussein without a war, a former American ambassador to the country said.

Riyadh believes convincing Iraq’s military leaders to overthrow the dictator is the best hope of maintaining some stability in the region.

The plan would include an offer of amnesty to all but the most senior Iraqi officials as an inducement to switch sides.

“The idea has support in the region,” former Saudi Ambassador Richard Murphy told The New York Post.

“It is a victory for everybody if he goes without a war.”

The coup would only succeed if Saddam’s security guards and intelligence officials are convinced they will not be killed if they turn against him, Mr Murphy said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Turkish Prime Minister Abdullah Gul this week met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, to discuss the plan, according to Time magazine.

Arab leaders are said to be concerned that the US will not stay and clean up Iraq after a war.

They fear a conflict could lead to chaos, with civil war among ethnic factions and military incursions by Turkey and Iran, and would prefer a solution that leaves most Iraqi state institutions intact.

“If things go wrong, the troops will get back on their ships and leave,” one Arab diplomat told the magazine.

“We in the region will be left with the consequences. It will be a never-ending story.”

Experts doubted that an attempt to overthrow Saddam could be successful.

“The Saudis and everybody else have been waiting for 12 years for the coup to get rid of Saddam Hussein,” said Saudi specialist Professor Greg Gause of the University of Vermont.

“I can’t imagine that right now he would be more vulnerable.”

But supporters of the coup said the outcome may be different if generals believed the time was “truly now or never.”

“What makes them collect around him?” an Arab diplomat told Time.

“They feel that their fate is tied with his. You’d be surprised how quickly Iraqi loyalties can change.”