About 300 Iraqis representing most of the country’s disparate religious, ethnic and political currents agreed on Monday at a US-organised meeting to convene a large conference within a month to select an interim administration that would assume responsibility for many day-to-day government functions under US tutelage.The participants displayed little of the acrimony that has marked previous gatherings of Iraqis opposed to former president Saddam Hussein’s authoritarian Baath Party rule. Instead, according to several of those present, they united around support for a democratic government that would respect human rights and allow religious freedom.‘‘We had an open process of discussion among Iraqis that has made me really optimistic about the future,’’ said Feisal Istrabadi, an Iraqi-born lawyer from Chicago who participated in the discussions. ‘‘We heard a wide spectrum of views. This is something Iraqis have not been able to do in 45 years.’’The all-day meeting — attended by the main US representatives here, retired lt gen Jay M. Garner and White House envoy Zalmay Khalilzad — was held in an auditorium where Saddam’s rubber-stamp national assembly used to sit. By coincidence, the meeting was convened by US occupation authorities on Saddam’s 66th birthday.‘‘Today, on the birthday of Saddam Hussein, let us start the democratic process for the children of Iraq,’’ Garner said. The gathering provided the first timetable for creation of a transitional administration that will allow the Iraqi people to assume a measure of self-governance.The conference, slated to be held in northern Iraq, will be a forum for participants to more explicitly hash out the shape of the transitional government and vote on it. At that meeting, attendees likely will determine whether the interim government will have a sole president or prime minister or whether an executive council will have that responsibility.Although several participants said a month of preparation is necessary to ensure selection of the best possible interim government, others argued that would be too long. Many of the attendees said they were concerned about a resurgence of looting and other illegal activity if the power vacuum persists, despite the US military’s assertion that it is technically in charge here.‘‘Four weeks is a very long time. We had hoped to see more concrete steps, particularly with regard to security,’’ said Hamid Khalidi, a Shiite Muslim tribal leader from Diwaniyah, about 100 miles south of Baghdad.Monday’s meeting was the first significant joint gathering of Iraqis who used to live in exile and those who remained in the country. All attendees were handpicked or carefully vetted by US officials after being nominated by fellow Iraqis. It included Sunni Muslims, Christians and several Shiite Muslims. In addition to Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen and Assyrians also were represented. All major groups had representatives, including the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the largest and best armed Shiite exile group. (LAT-WP)
