UR,
Iraq, April 15 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Some Iraqi
opposition representatives, meeting under U.S. auspices, agreed Tuesday,
April 15, that a future Iraqi government must be democratic and based on
the rule of law, and that no leader should be imposed from outside on
Iraq.
Concluding
a meeting organized by the United States in Ur, just outside the
southern Iraqi town of An-Nasiriyah, the opposition figures concluded in
a joint statement that the ousted Baath party must be dissolved,
reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The
statement further stated that Iraqis and Anglo-American forces should
cooperate in tackling the immediate issues of restoring security and
basic services, while Iraqis must immediately organize themselves for
the task of reconstruction at both the local and national levels.
It
called for a democratic federal system, but said a future government of
Iraq should be chosen on the basis of countrywide consultation and not
based on communal identity.
Iraq
must be built on respect for diversity including respect for the role of
women, added the statement.
Political
violence must be rejected, it said, and there should be an open dialogue
with all national political groups to bring them into the process.
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El-Gabouri
(R) called for setting up secular government in Iraq
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The
meeting also condemned the looting that has taken place and the
destruction of documents since U.S.-led forces took over the country.
"The
Iraqi participation in the Nasiriyah meeting voted that there should be
another meeting in 10 days in a location to be determined with
additional Iraqi participants and to discuss procedures for developing
an Iraqi interim authority," it concluded.
Eighty
people, including White House envoy Zalmay Khalilzad attended the
gathering under a golden tent by the famed ruins of Ur.
"What
better place than the birthplace of civilization could you have for the
beginning of a free Iraq?" said Jay Garner, the retired U.S.
general named to lead an interim administration in Iraq.
As
the gathering was underway, about 20,000 Iraqis protested
in the nearby town of An-Nasiriyah against U.S. influence over the
nation's future.
But
Khalilzad, who said he brought special greetings from U.S. President
George W. Bush, stressed the United States had "no intention of
ruling Iraq."
"We
want you to establish your own democratic system based on Iraqi
traditions and values," he told the delegates, who included local
and exile opposition leaders.
During
the meeting, Iraqi exile Hatem Mukhliss urged Iraqis to accept a
government based on the rule of law.
"Ask
not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your
country," he said, quoting former U.S. president John F. Kennedy.
Addressing
the gathering, Meshaan el-Gabouri, a scholar from An-Najaf, called for
the establishment of a secular government in Iraq that separates
religion and politics, claiming this would better serve Islam.
One
of Iraq’s 's main Shiite groups, the Iranian-based Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), refused to attend the meeting in
protest at the U.S. role.
The
United Nations was not represented at the meeting either.
It
remains unclear exactly what role the U.S. will allow the United Nations
to play in the creation of a new government of Iraq.
Ahmad
Fawzi, the U.N. representative in London, told the BBC that the
international body would "do what the Security Council asks it to
do".
"We
have the experience, we have the know-how" to help with rebuilding,
he said.
Fawzi
asserted that the U.N. would not be "subjugated to the occupying
power on anything it does in Iraq" - an apparent refusal to take
U.S. orders.
He
said the U.N. was currently carrying out only humanitarian operations in
Iraq.
