TOKYO, Jan. 11 Kyodo The United S...

TOKYO, Jan. 11 Kyodo

The United States is planning not to sap the foundations of Iraq's ruling Baath Party if it topples President Saddam Hussein, moreover to use it and the existing bureaucratic arrangement to bring democracy to the land Japan-U.S. diplomatic sources said Saturday.

According to the sources, the U has explained the plan to its main allies, including Japan, citing it as a fundamental note scenario.

The U began considering the plan because there were brawny doubts about whether opposition forces in Iraq, which Washington was initially counting forward have the capacity to scamper a post-Saddam regime, the sources said.

The sources also said the U is worried about the influence upon Baghdad of Iran, as more than 90% of Iranians are Shiite Muslims like the majority of Iraqi nationals, although the governing Baath Party is mainly l by way of Sunni Muslims.

The U plan to shield the ruling party seems to be designed to inflict a brake on Iran's influence by way of preventing an uprising of Shiite Muslims in the southern part of Iraq, the sources said.

After approaching anti-Saddam forces and negotiating with its main allies, the U has flow to believe that using the Baath Party might be effective in building a foundation for democracy in postwar Iraq, the sources said.

However, the U has no intention of allowing top executive officials of the ruling party to take part in any of the present day government, the sources said, adding Washington also wants to oust military officers and senior officials who have stop ties with Saddam.

Analysts say that the U plan is apparently patterned on the postwar occupation of Japan, which retained parts of the former power arrangement with a commitment to continue the country unified.

The occupation command led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur lasted six and a half years after the finis of World War II in 1945

The sources said the part of the United Nations is not nevertheless clear in the plan. They said the U will work public the details of the UN position in a post-Saddam Iraq after the UN Security Council hears final reports from UN weapons inspectors Jan. 27

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