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By Nadim Ladki
Reuters
www.reuters.com
Mon April 28, 2003

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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Several hundred prominent Iraqis gathered in Baghdad on Monday to map out the country's future with the retired U.S. general charged with overseeing reconstruction after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

U.S. administrator Jay Garner has sought to reassure Iraqis they will determine their own destiny and the meeting, with a wide spectrum of political, religious and ethnic leaders, is set to focus on the formation of a new government.

"I will be here for just a short time, just to help get things going. This is your country and it's your future," Garner said in a Sunday radio broadcast.

Among those gathered at the heavily guarded convention center in the bombed out heart of Baghdad were clerics from the Shi'ite majority and traditionally dominant Sunni Muslims.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was in Qatar, headquarters for the war that ousted Saddam, as part of a Gulf tour to thank allies for their help and to discuss possible changes to American military deployments in the region.

The removal of Saddam has created the opportunity to reduce U.S. numbers in the politically sensitive region.

About 300-400 prominent Iraqis were expected at the Baghdad talks, including Kurds from the northern mountains and Arab tribal chiefs. The meeting was set to be bigger than initial discussions held near the southern city of Nassiriya on April 15, just days after U.S.-led troops ousted Saddam.

Pro-American Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress umbrella group, was invited, along with the country's main Shi'ite Muslim group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).

"It's going to be broader and broader representation as these sorts of meetings go on," said Garner's coordinator for central Iraq, Barbara Bodine.

A senior aide said the meeting would be used to identify potential leaders and discuss forming a new government.

U.S. forces arrested the self-appointed mayor of Baghdad on Sunday for trying to run the city without their authority.

Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi, a former exile who declared himself mayor 10 days ago, was "removed" from Baghdad for obstructing efforts to get Iraqis back to work after the war, a U.S. military statement said.

The military also reported it had detained General Hussam Mohammad Amin, a key figure in negotiations with the U.N. inspectors who had hunted banned Iraqi weapons before the war.

Amin, No. 49 on a U.S. list of 55 most-wanted members of Saddam's entourage, is the 13th known to be in custody. A U.S. military source said he was caught west of Baghdad on Saturday but declined to reveal who captured him.

SUSPECTED CHEMICAL WEAPONS

U.S. television networks reported that initial tests on a 55-gallon (200-litre) barrel of chemicals found by U.S. forces in northern Iraq had detected nerve and blistering agents.

Quoting Pentagon officials, ABC News said special forces found 14 unmarked barrels, at least a dozen missiles and 150 gas masks at a site northwest of Baghdad.

The United States said destroying Iraq's chemical arms and other weapons of mass destruction was a main goal when it invaded Iraq last month. Iraq denied having such weapons. The war began after President Bush lost patience with the U.N. process and said Saddam was duping the world.

The U.S. statement said Zubaidi had been detained because of "subversive" activities that included telling people they could not return to work without his approval.

His "efforts to take political and personal advantage during this transitional period ... made it necessary for coalition forces to act decisively against him," it said.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan al-Muasher, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," condemned Chalabi, who has been convicted of bank fraud in Jordan, as a divisive figure. He said Chalabi, who returned to Baghdad after the war with Pentagon backing after decades in exile, would not be the choice of the Iraqi people to head a government.

A spokesman for the Tehran-based SCIRI said the group would probably attend the Baghdad meeting on condition Washington allowed Iraqis to choose their own interim government.

Jordan's King Abdullah urged Washington to speed up the formation of a new government to avert possible fragmentation of the war-torn country.

POWER VACUUM FEARED

"I would have thought they (U.S.) should have moved faster. ... The vacuum that is there at the moment is not helping the situation on the ground," the king told CNN in an interview.

The U.S. is wrestling to restore war-damaged services and improve its relationship with an Iraqi population often resentful over the continuing American role in the country.

Thousands of Iraqis have taken to the streets since U.S. troops seized Baghdad 18 days ago, demanding they leave the country and its future to the Iraqi people.

A U.S. defense official, citing security concerns, would not say whether Rumsfeld would visit Iraq during his Gulf tour.

The defense secretary has denied that Washington plans to establish long-term military bases in postwar Iraq.

The New York Times reported on Monday the U.S. military was transferring its major Middle East military air operations center from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.

Citing senior military officials, it said the shift was the first step in what is likely to be a significant cut in U.S. American forces in Saudi Arabia and a realignment of its military presence in the region.

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