Iraqi media described U.S.-sponsored Iraqi dissidents as traitors; photo shows Ahmed Chalabi (L) and Jalal Talabani (R)

LONDON, December 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Leaders of Iraqi opposition groups, concluding four days of talks in London, agreed Tuesday, December 17, to a U.S.-sponsored deal to close ranks and form a joint body of 65 members in anticipation of a post-war era.

Opponents of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, preparing for a possible U.S.-led war on their country that could topple the ruling regime, adopted a political declaration calling for a democratic and federal post-Saddam Iraq, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The opposition also adopted a document outlining the principles of a transition period that would follow Saddam’s ouster.

Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, told journalists the "follow-up and coordination committee" would hold its first meeting in Iraqi Kurdistan "on or around January 15" next year.

The Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq has been off-limits to the Iraqi government since the end of the 1991 Gulf War.

Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington's representative for regime change in Iraq, was at the final session of the conference in central London, after prodding the participants to bury their differences and forge a common front.

Organizers stressed that the follow-up committee would not be a transitional government, saying such a government would be formed "in Baghdad after Saddam's downfall, not in London."

A source close to the U.S. team confirmed that Washington did not want the Iraqi opposition to set up a provisional government.

Khalilzad, once an advisor to U.S. oil company Unocal, is also Washington's special envoy for Afghanistan.

Earlier Tuesday, Iraqi media described U.S.-sponsored dissident groups as traitors and said Washington's effort to launch war with the announced aim of toppling Saddam's regime were bound to fail.

"There is no place for traitors in Iraq," said the Iraqi television satellite channel in a commentary that did not mention explicitly the London dissidents' conference.

"Here on the land of Iraq will be buried the United States' illusion... of appointing a Karzai and agents it bought off with money and with promises of [high government] positions," it added, referring to Hamid Karzai, the U.S.-installed Afghan president.

"Exported agents are a rotten commodity," added the commentary voiced over video images mainly showing the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation.

"The Afghan copy of the Karzai puppet will end up in the dustbin of history after some time, and the other copies will end up the same way even before people see them," said Al-Iraq newspaper in an editorial.