 Iraqis Meet To Discuss New Government By ROBERT W. GEE Cox News Service UR, Iraq -- Iraqi tribal leaders and exiles gathered Tuesday at a U.S.-sponsored meeting near this ancient city to start plotting the future of an Iraq without Saddam Hussein. American officials told the Iraqis that the United States has "absolutely no interest" in ruling the country. The 80 participants declared that postwar Iraq should be democratic and built on respect for diversity, including women. Some disagreed, however, on the role that Islam should play in a new government. In nearby Nasiriyah, several thousand religious Shiites -- Iraq's largest Islamic sect -- demonstrated against the meeting because they said they were not invited. With banners and chants, hand in hand, they called for the rule of Islam in a new Iraq. "Yes, yes for Islam. No U.S.A., no Saddam," they shouted. It was perhaps the first free political demonstration in the country since Saddam took power in 1979. Conference leaders convened under a golden tent over a patchwork of red patterned carpets at Tallil air base, within sight of the 4,000-year-old ziggurat at Ur, a terraced-pyramid temple of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians and the biblical birthplace of the prophet Abraham. "What better place than the birthplace of civilization could you have for the beginning of a free Iraq," said retired Lt. Gen. Jay Garner, who will head the U.S.-led interim administration in Iraq. It was the beginning of a process of forming a new government run by Iraqis, U.S. officials said. The next meeting will take place in 10 days. Participants -- Iraq Arabs, ethnic Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites -- laid out a sweeping vision for a democracy that incorporates the varied interests of groups that were often pitted against one another under Saddam. Seeking to ease Iraqi concerns of a long and heavy handed U.S. occupation, White House envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told delegates that the United States has "no interest, absolutely no interest, in ruling Iraq." The interim administration could begin handing power back to Iraqi officials within three to six months, but forming a government will take longer, said Maj. Tim Cross, the top British member of Garner's team. Meanwhile, lawlessness in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities continued to subside as U.S. and British forces organized joint patrols with Iraqi police. There were no reports of major fighting in Iraq on Tuesday, but U.S. military officials continued to warn that conflict remains ahead against pockets of resistance. In Washington, President Bush said: "Our victory in Iraq is certain, but it is not complete." In Baghdad, U.S. forces acting on a tip searched a house and reportedly found a large supply of arms and explosives and instructions for making chemical and biological weapons. Notorious international terrorist Abu Abbas, the Palestinian guerrilla leader who masterminded the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship in the Mediterranean Sea, was taken into U.S. custody in Baghdad, CNN reported. The hijacking resulted in the death of a disabled American man, Leon Klinghoffe, who was pushed overboard. Abbas had been living in Iraq, out of reach of U.S. authorities. At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said U.S. troops had shut down an illegal oil pipeline said to export up to 200,000 barrels of oil daily to Syria. Bush administration officials have warned Syria against harboring fugitive Iraqi leaders. But seeking to calm concerns in the region, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States has no plans to go to war with Syria or anyone nation. "Iraq was a unique case, where it wasn't just a matter of a dictator being there," Powell said. "There is no war plan to go and attack someone else, either for the purpose of overthrowing their leadership or for the purpose of imposing democratic values." Some Iraqis protested the Ur meeting, opposing U.S. plans to head an interim government, or for being left out of the conference. "The conference is neglecting the Shiites," said Said al-Musawi, one of the organizers of the demonstration. "Democracy with American tanks must go. Leave our land and let us control our country." The demonstrators represented the Hawza, or Shiite religious seminary, in Najaf. Outside the air base, a throng pressed against coils of concertina wire, some demanding an audience with the Americans or the Iraqis or both. Local sheiks in white dishdashas and brown wool shawls peered at a cordon of U.S. soldiers guarding a checkpoint. One man, Zamil Hamid, said he took an eight-hour taxi ride from Baghdad to deliver an application to work for the new government. He handed it to an American soldier. He was a major in the Iraqi army during the Iran-Iraq war, but was jailed for four years -- including nine months in solitary confinement in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison -- for criticizing Saddam, he said. "I would be a good officer in the new army," he said. "You see that I am still young, although I am 54 years old." U.S. officials encouraged broader participation in future meetings. Discussion of religion at the meeting Tuesday gave a hint of challenges to come. Sheik Ayad Jamal Al Din, a Shiite religious leader from Nasiriyah, urged separation of mosque and state. "We reject the concept of a confessional democracy that would prevent the Iraqi people from practicing religion," Din said to scattered applause. He demanded a "system of government that separates belief from politics." Nassar Hussein Musawi, a schoolteacher, disagreed. "Those who would like to separate religion from the state are simply dreaming," he said. Another contentious issue may be the future of the Kurdish autonomous area in the north. Kurdish groups want to expand their reach to oil-rich Kirkuk and Kurdish parts of Mosul. The Turkish government strongly opposes such an expansion because it might spark aspirations of Kurdish independence across Kurdish areas, including western Turkey. A C-130 military cargo plane carried exile delegates to the conference from U.S. Central Command headquarters in Qatar. For many, it was the first time they had set foot in the homeland in years. Entifad Qanbar, the Washington representative of the Iraqi National Congress, cried as the plane landed. Another exile dropped to his knees and kissed the ground. Ahmed Chalabi, the most high-profile opposition leader to emerge -- thanks to U.S. support -- did not attend the conference, but sent representatives. |
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