IYAD ALAWI, IRAQI NATIONAL ACCORD
Iyad Alawi is the leader of the Iraqi National Accord (INA), an exiled opposition group consisting mainly of military and security defectors.
The INA, set up by Mr Alawi in 1990, for many years supported the idea that the US should try to foster a coup from within the Iraqi army.
The failure of attempts to trigger a coup have meant that the INA has been largely overshadowed by the Iraqi National Congress.
The group's main constituency is thought to be Sunni Arabs in central Iraq.
Mr Alawi, an Iraq-born Shia, is a member of the Iraqi Governing Council. He is a trained neurologist, a successful businessman, and is said to have had good links to former Baathists.
Reports say the group has received financial support from US, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Britain. Like the INC, it is struggling to build support in Iraq after years of exile, and to combat perceptions that it is close to Washington.
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