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Sunday January 24 6:21 PM ET Oppostion Iraqi Kurds Refuse US Aid CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - A major Iraqi Kurdish opposition group on Sunday turned down U.S. support for efforts to oust Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. The Kurdistan Democratic Party, in a statement faxed to The Associated Press in Cairo, said it did not want to be among seven opposition groups President Clinton has named as eligible for $97 million in aid. ``We do not intend to receive this kind of aid,'' the statement said. The KDP's leader, Massoud Barzani, reportedly has said he does not favor toppling Saddam. Earlier, the Tehran-based Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq - an umbrella for several Shiite Muslim opposition groups - said that accepting the money would mar its reputation inside Iraq. Two other groups - the London-based Iraqi National Congress and the Jordanian-based Iraqi National Accord - have welcomed the U.S. offer. Clinton on Tuesday designated seven organizations as eligible to receive U.S. support under the 1998 Iraq Liberation Act, which would provide overt military aid to help overthrow Saddam. The KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan share control of an autonomous zone in northern Iraq that has been under U.S. and British protection since Baghdad crushed a rebellion there shortly after the 1991 Gulf War. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a discussion list run by Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To be removed/added, email soc-casi-discuss-request@lists.cam.ac.uk, NOT the whole list. Archived at http://linux.clare.cam.ac.uk/~saw27/casi/discuss.html