Some leaders of Iraqi exile groups say the United States should stay in the background and allow only Iraqis to run the country. However, representatives of groups who stayed and suffered under the Baathist regime say they want more U-S supervision. They say they are concerned about threats posed by pockets of Saddam loyalists still inside Iraq.
Both sides aired opinions during Monday's conference in downtown Baghdad with U-S and British officials.
In his opening remarks, the U-S official in charge of rebuilding post-war Iraq -- Jay Garner -- said the goal of the one-day session is to start the process of democracy in Iraq.
The retired U-S Army Lieutenant General exchanged views with more than 250 delegates representing Sunni and Shi-ite Muslim, ethnic Kurdish and tribal groups.
A senior U-S official says another session will be held within three weeks in northern Iraq, most likely in the city of Mosul.
Meanwhile, Reuters quotes an Iraqi National Congress spokesman Zaab Sethna as saying six Iraqi faction leaders plan to meet Wednesday to discuss proposals made by General Garner at today's session, as well as a joint position on an interim Iraqi government.
The spokesman says the six Iraqi faction leaders include Iraqi National Congress chief Ahmad Chalabi, Jalal Talabani of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Massoud Barzani of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and Abdel-Aziz al-Hakim of the Iran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
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