The man tipped by the West as the prime candidate to succeed Saddam Hussein was educated in rural Sussex.

As leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), controversial firebrand Ahmed Chalabi is the best-known Iraqi opposition figure.

Shia Muslim Dr Chalabi, 57, went to school amid 360 acres of wooded parkland at fee-paying Seaford College in Petworth.

At the age of 12, his wealthy banking family fled Iraq's tinderbox atmosphere in 1956 before he came to Sussex.

The small mixed-sex independent school, in the shadow of the South Downs, clearly gave a sturdy grounding to Dr Chalabi.

Later, having studied for a PhD in maths at the University of Chicago, he returned to Iraq briefly in the Nineties amid support for the London-based INC.

In the mid-Nineties he organised a failed uprising in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq, leading to hundreds of deaths.

In 1998 the INC was the principal beneficiary of $100 million from then US president Bill Clinton to help the Iraqi opposition topple Saddam.

It is a far cry from sleepy Petworth with its population of about 8,000.

Many of the intake at Seaford College are drawn from the surrounding area.

The 390-pupil college, which was established in Seaford but relocated to Petworth after the Second World War, has an admirable academic record.

More than 94 per cent of its A-level students passed their exams in 2001, 42.3 per cent of them at A or B grades.

In addition, 78 per cent of GCSE pupils gained five or more A* to C grades, well above the national average.

Nowadays Dr Chalabi, who is described as charismatic but crafty by observers, spends most of his time in the US and London.

In an interview, Dr Chalabi dismissed talk of him taking a prominent role in any future government should Saddam be ousted.

He told German newspaper Die Zeit: "Personally, I will not run for any office and I am not seeking any positions. My job will end with the liberation of Iraq from Saddam's rule."