AP reported on 26 June. Among his audience at the Washington meeting were representatives of the Kurdish Democratic Party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, the Iraq National Congress (INC), and the Constitutional Monarchist Movement.

London's "Al-Hayat" on 27 June said that the Iraqi participants in the meeting had pressed for a change in the way the U.S. administration now deals with the INC and specifically for the release of funds appropriated by the Congress. The paper added that the INC leadership also called on the United States to change the current rules of engagement given to U.S. forces so that they can strike other targets as well as to continue enforcement of the existing no-fly zones.

The INC representatives also reportedly called on Gore to help them combat the environmental disaster now being caused by the construction of dams that prevent the flow of water into the Al-Ahwar marshes (see "RFE/RL Iraq Report," 2 June 2000 and 16 June 2000). These marshes are inhabited by supporters of the Shi'ite opposition to Saddam Husseyn. According to the "Mideast Mirror" of 27 June, the opposition urged that U.S warplanes "destroy these dams in order to thwart the Iraqi regimes plans to displace the residents of the southern marshes."

Following Gore's meeting with the Iraqi opposition groups, the two sides released a joint statement reiterating the U.S. commitment to removing Saddam Husseyn from power and arguing that Saddam's removal "is the key to the positive transformation of Iraq's relationship to the international community." (David Nissman)