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Iraqis protest bid to form govt American way

STAR DESK
Thousands of angry Iraqis protested on the streets of the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur as the US gathered some 60 Iraqis from radical and mainstream Shia and Sunni Muslim, Kurdish and Monarchist groups to shape the postinvasion government.
As the US plans go, the new administration headed by retired US General Jay Garner would have an American, either military or civilian in each ministry. Such Americanisation of Iraq has also flared widespread protests and schism among the Iraqis.
The problem gets even bigger with various religious groups and the Kurdish people having their own agenda no-one looks to reconcile to others proposal.
Thousands of Shia Muslims whose representatives boycotted the meeting demonstrated in nearby Nassiriyah against the gathering, giving a clear signal that they want to decide their future on their own and it is not to be shaped by the US. They carried anti-US placards and chanted slogans.
"Yes to freedom…Yes to Islam…No to America…No to Saddam," a huge crowd chanted.
Rancour runs even higher as Iraqis find ex-General Garner to head an interim administration unacceptable.
The meeting ended with an agreement to meet again in 10 days.
Ahmad Chalabi, head of the
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London-based umbrella Iraqi National Congress, did not attend the meeting but sent a representative. Chalabi, whose background is littered with a number of financial scandals, will travel to Baghdad within the next three days.
Iraqi opposition leaders, meanwhile, fear the US administration is using the meeting to try to force Chalabi on them as a leader of a new Iraqi administration.
"We will press for any Iraqi civilian administration regardless of what the Americans say. An administration by Garner is not acceptable," said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, an Iraqi physician and opposition activist.
He said the Americans have outlined what Garner's administration would look like: Each ministry would be headed by an American, either military or civilian. Each minister would have two American deputies and eight American advisers, plus four Iraqi advisers from inside the country and four Iraqi exiles.
"It is not for the benefit of the Iraqi nation," said Abdul Aziz Hakim, a leader of the largest Shia group, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq. "Iraq needs an Iraqi interim government. Anything other than this tramples the rights of the Iraqi people and will be a return to the era of colonisation."
"We don't accept a US umbrella or anybody else's." he said.
US and British officials say they hope Garner's Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance can be up and running in Baghdad in as little as two weeks and that elections can be held within a year.
"It's critical that the world understand that this is only the fledgling first meeting of what will hopefully be a much larger series of meetings across Iraq," said Jim Wilkinson, spokesman at U.S. Central Command.
A national conference is planned ultimately to select the interim administration, perhaps within weeks, said a senior U.S. government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Nassiriyah talks moderated by Zalmay Khalilzad, the White House envoy to Iraq, take place with the United States insisting that the looting and lawlessness that marked the first days after Saddam's overthrow on Wednesday are subsiding.
Kurdish groups appear unwilling to compromise on expanding their borders to include the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and the Kurdish parts of Mosul. That could pose a problem for the US because Turkey worries that Kurdish control of Kirkuk could lead one day to aspirations for independence, which could also encourage separatist Kurds in Turkey.
US calls Saddam's men into action
US troops recalled thousands of police who previously worked for Saddam to help maintain order in Baghdad.
But US commanders said they were still on the alert for hit-and-run attacks by diehard Saddam loyalists and antiAmerican volunteers from other Arab countries.
Saddam himself has disappeared, as have most of his aides. Only two out of 55 officials on a US "most wanted" list have so far been caught.
Baghdad was slowly returning to a semblance of normality after three weeks of air raids and four days of nearanarchy. Some food stores opened and traffic jams again clogged the streets, but water and power supplies remained cut.
The legacy of days of chaos includes the loss and destruction of thousands of treasures from the National Museum and Library and the ransacking of many government offices.
Anger rose in Tikrit, about 90 miles north of Baghdad, yesterday as Marines tightened their hold over Saddam's hometown. Tanks barred people from crossing over a Tigris River bridge that was heavily damaged in an air strike, and many helicopters flew overhead.
As looters ransacked a government agriculture building in Tikrit, infuriated residents complained to a reporter that the bridge into town had been blocked for days. Many said they were hungry and sick, but US forces would not let them go to a hospital across the river.
With fighting on the wane in much of Iraq, US defence officials said Monday they soon would recall two of five aircraft carrier battle groups stationed in the Persian Gulf.
In Baghdad, Marines handed out flyers yesterday, appealing to people to stay inside between evening and morning prayers, "to avoid placing coalition forces in a position where we must make a distinction between you and terrorist or criminal elements during a time of limited visibility."
The message stopped short of imposing a formal curfew, though Marines had discussed putting one in place during the weekend's rampant looting. The flyer advised people not to carry anything resembling a weapon, suggested drivers pull over to let military convoys pass, and called on public service workers to contact Marines at the Palestine Hotel.
It also asked for tips on potential threats to coalition forces.
Hundreds of Iraqis gathered outside the Palestine Hotel on yesterday morning, pleading for law and order. Marines trying to placate the crowd moved out in front of the barbed wire they have laid in front of the hotel, but wound up struggling not to be thrust into it themselves as people pushed forward.