WHEN THE FIRING STOPS

KUWAIT CITY —  U.S. military forces airlifted Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress, into southern Iraq on Sunday, along with hundreds of followers described by his London-based opposition group as soldiers who will fight to topple Saddam Hussein.

Supporters and opponents of Chalabi interpreted the move as a Pentagon-backed bid to enhance his standing in postwar Iraq.

The force, called the 1st Battalion Free Iraqi Forces, is composed of fewer than 500 men but could grow to 700. It was flown early Sunday to a spot near the southern city of Nasiriyah. Officials downplayed its duties, saying most of the members would perform nonmilitary jobs, such as helping with humanitarian aid and local administration.

But the move suggested that top Pentagon officials hoped to rely on Chalabi and members of the Iraqi National Congress as the seed of a new government.

That has generated intense opposition from several high-ranking State Department and CIA officials, who have argued that Chalabi has little popular support and would be perceived as a U.S.-imposed leader.

These officials worry that Chalabi’s quick ascension would send the wrong signal about the postwar political prospects of those who have remained inside Iraq during Hussein’s 24-year rule. That, in turn, could have an impact on their willingness to embrace a new government.

Chalabi, born in 1945 to a wealthy banking family, has not been in Iraq since 1958, except for a period in the mid-1990s when he sought unsuccessfully to organize a mass uprising from a base in the Kurdish-controlled north. He is a member of the Shiite Muslim sect that is concentrated in the south and that makes up the majority of Iraq’s population.

“The Pentagon keeps pushing ahead -- they’ve been relentless in their pursuit of a policy, which is to take these guys from the outside, led by Chalabi, and make them the next government of Iraq,” said a well-placed U.S. official who requested anonymity.

A White House official downplayed the significance of Chalabi’s airlift, saying the leadership of an interim authority for Iraq has not been decided.

“I would caution anybody against this sort of handicapping at this point as to who will be in the [interim authority] and who won’t,” a White House official said. He reiterated that President Bush’s policy is to recruit interim Iraqi leaders from not only among exiles but also among Iraqis inside the country.

Still, Chalabi wasted no time in announcing his role and there was an expectation that he would soon try to lead his Iraqi troops to Baghdad.

“We are proud to contribute our forces to Operation Iraqi Freedom,” Chalabi said in a statement issued from Nasiriyah. “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.”

Pentagon officials took some pains, however, to downplay the notion that the Iraqi National Congress was being given an advantage in the bid to fill leadership roles for postwar Iraq.

“I’m comfortable that once we free Iraq and give it to the people in Iraq, that they will be able to decide for themselves who should be their leaders and who should not,” Marine Gen. Peter Pace, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on ABC’s “This Week.”

A U.S.-educated former banker, Chalabi is a charismatic but divisive figure with a checkered past. He was tried and convicted in absentia in Jordan for bank fraud, a development he dismissed as a Baghdad-backed plot against him. Senior Arab officials say he would not be welcome in several Middle East countries.

Some critics contend that much of the intelligence provided by Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress turned out to be wrong, specifically the idea that a U.S.-led invasion would quickly spark popular uprisings to oust Hussein.

Chalabi has a long-standing relationship with Vice President Dick Cheney, several senior Pentagon officials and several key members of Congress, who strongly support the exile group.

Pentagon officials in Kuwait, backed by Defense Department strategists in Washington, already are selecting Iraqi exiles to staff key ministries in Baghdad, according to U.S. officials. The majority, over the objection of the State Department, are aligned with Chalabi, potentially giving his group the dominant voice in the transition.

But some U.S. officials and opposition insiders also said the airlift could be a crucial test of Chalabi’s strength.

“The day of reckoning is close,” a senior Kurdish official said. “Chalabi said he has a large constituency. He told the United States that he had thousands here and there in Iraq, people who would rise up for him. Well, we’ll soon find out if that’s true. We’ll soon find out who has real assets in Iraq and who does not.”

“This is a put-up-or-shut-up move for Chalabi,” a well-placed U.S. official said. “He’s been claiming he has all these guys. Let’s see them and see what they can do.”

Chalabi is paying the men who arrived Sunday, although the funds come either all or largely from the United States, according to opposition officials.

These Iraqi recruits, who were flown from northern Iraq, are mainly Shiites and Kurds. Most of the recruits had recently been in northern Kurdistan, mainly in the area controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan.

Chalabi has said he has no designs on Iraq’s leadership.

“I’m not a candidate for any position in Iraq, and I don’t seek an office,” he said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday night. “I think my role ends with the liberation of the country.”

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Verhovek reported from Kuwait City and Wright from Washington.