Iraqis Inch Toward a New Government

Under a white billowing tent and U.S. auspices, a select group of Iraqis -- many of them rivals and mutually distrustful -- took their first tentative steps Tuesday toward forming a new government.

The meeting in Ur, the biblical birthplace of the patriarch Abraham, formally launched an ambitious U.S.-led plan to remake a country devastated by war, years of economic sanctions and decades of repressive rule under Saddam Hussein. It concluded after about three hours with a 13-point statement favoring democracy and the elimination of Hussein’s Baath Party, and an agreement to convene again in 10 days.

“A free and democratic Iraq will begin today,” said Jay Garner, the military contractor and retired three-star general chosen by the Bush administration to run an interim government.

“What better place than the birthplace of civilization could you have for the beginning of a free Iraq?” he said as he opened the conference in the shadow of a 4,000-year-old ziggurat, a terraced pyramid that served as a temple for the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians.

But U.S. optimism didn’t paper over the differences in full view. Iraq is mired in religious, ideological and ethnic divisions, and Tuesday’s gathering also underscored the tensions between Iraqis who stayed and suffered under the Hussein regime and those who were in exile, many of whom are being promoted by the U.S. as possible leaders.

The major organization representing Iraq’s majority Shiite Muslim population, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, boycotted the meeting, citing the U.S. role in the interim government.

Not far away in the city of Nasiriyah on the Euphrates River, thousands of Shiites chanting “Iraq for the Iraqis” marched to show their displeasure with the heavily U.S. flavor of the interim government being planned for the country.

Those who did participate included Kurds, Shiites and Sunni Muslims from inside the country as well as others who have spent many years in exile. U.S. officials issued invitations to the groups, and each picked its own representatives.

Iraqis who did not have invitations were not allowed to attend, and the road to the Tallil air base -- the site of the gathering -- was blocked during the meeting.

For many Iraqis, the more desperately mundane needs of water and electricity outweighed the more esoteric elements of democracy.

“The future is not clear,” groused Abbas Temmimi, an unemployed 45-year-old resident of Nasiriyah. “We are worried about a lot of things -- the British, the Americans, the old regime. People need security, they need water, they need everything.... This is freedom? It’s not freedom.”

Outside the meeting, on the road between Nasiriyah and Ur, there was a sense that momentous events were unfolding that would shape Iraq’s future, but there was little idea of how that future should be achieved. No one seemed to think that ordinary people could influence the decisions being made, but many said whatever the future, it could not be worse than Hussein’s rule.

Hussein Mehedi Saleh, 49, a shepherd, had heard only scraps about the meeting. All he knew was that someone with an English name was going to be in charge.

“I’m happy that the disease that we had is gone,” he said, squatting near a pond with his sheep. “I’m happy. We need to drink, to eat, to live our life.”

Some thought the Americans had already anointed their preferred leader. “It’s just a game for sure. The Americans control the whole country,” said Raad Gazy, 40, a former driver and laborer. “They removed Saddam, and of course they can put whoever they want there.

“But any new government will be better than Saddam, even if it’s coming from America. I want anything that will get us out of this miserable existence.”

The U.S. Central Command, which directed the fight to overthrow Hussein and organized the meeting, tried to put the best possible spin on the protests.

“When liberation occurs, people have the right to express their opinions on a number of things,” Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks said during a briefing at Central Command regional headquarters in Doha, Qatar. “We certainly would want there to be no civil unrest, any violence. But the right for them to express their opinion is something that we believe is a good news story and a trend perhaps for the future.”

Another prominent no-show at Tuesday’s meeting was Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the exiled Iraqi National Congress and a darling of the Pentagon, which last week airlifted him to Nasiriyah along with several hundred members of a ragtag army.

Chalabi instead sent a delegate, Entifad Qanbar, who is the organization’s representative in Washington and was flown in on a U.S. military C-130.

“This meeting is not to select leadership spots, and I don’t see any leadership spots on offer,” Chalabi advisor Zaab Sethna said in minimizing his absence. “The key is to have some sort of structure in place and ready to go.... The meeting is only the first in a series.”

The meeting unfolded in an air-conditioned tent with a floor of red carpets in the shadow of the ziggurat, one of the Arab world’s most important archeological ruins. About 75 Iraqi men, some in tribal robes, and five Iraqi women attended.

Zalmay Khalilzad, President Bush’s envoy to the meeting, urged participants to overcome their differences and cooperate with on another.

“We have no intention of ruling Iraq,” he said. “We want you to establish your own democratic system based on Iraqi traditions and values.”

Tuesday’s exercise was clearly a new experience for many of the Iraqis who lived under the Hussein regime. Speeches drew only lukewarm or scattered applause. There was a tentative air to the Iraqi handling of the proceedings. And there were sharp disputes.

Sheik Ayad Jamal Din, a Shiite religious leader from Nasiriyah, urged separation of mosque and state and called for a “system of government that separates belief from politics.” “Dictators may not speak in the name of religion,” he said after quoting the Koran.

But Nassar Hussein Musawi, a secondary school teacher who said he was persecuted under the ousted regime, was quick to disagree. “Those who would like to separate religion from the state are simply dreaming,” he said.

Garner, who heads a 300-member team called the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance that will create a new infrastructure and oversee elections, told the assemblage that physical reconstruction must be accompanied by political development.

He proposed another meeting in 10 days, and, by a show of hands, the participants agreed. The next session is to focus more precisely on how to form the Iraqi Interim Authority, using concrete proposals from the Iraqis, said a senior U.S. official speaking after Tuesday’s event.

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Wilkinson reported from Kuwait City and Dixon outside Ur. Times staff writers Mark Magnier and David Wharton in southern Iraq contributed to this report. Pool reports were also used.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Casualties

*--* Military (as of 6:30 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday)

U.S Britain Iraq Killed 123 31 Unknown

Missing 4 0 Unknown

Captured 0 0 7,300

*--*

Civilian

* Iraq has said at least 1,261 civilians have been killed. In addition, 11 journalists and two aid workers have died.

Los Angeles Times