"They discussed the shape of the cherished rule after ejecting the US forces out of the country," said Al-Rikabi

By Abdul Raheem Ali, IOL Staff

CAIRO, August 31 (IslamOnline.net) – Three hundred Iraqi figures have met in Beirut to draft plans for conceiving a mechanism to rule Iraq away from the US interference.

The independent constitutional conference is meant to replace the Iraqi National Conference, held in Baghdad this month to choose a national council supervising the interim government until elections be held in January 2005.

The all-inclusive conference is well-attended by representatives of various Iraqi forces and tribes opposed to the US occupation of Iraq.

"They have discussed the shape of the cherished rule after ejecting the US forces out of the country - away from sectarian-based political regime adopted by the US occupation forces," Abdel-Amir Al-Rikabi, the general coordinator of the conference sessions, told IslamOnline.net over the phone from the Lebanese capital.

Al-Rikabi said the participants also chose 20 figures as members of a preliminary committee trusted with making regional and international contacts on the conference’s resolutions.

Hot Debate

Federalism, pluralism and rights of ethnic minorities as well as the form of coming general elections and the role political and sectarian powers could play for holding them – all were discussed in a hot debate by the conferees.

"The event is mainly directed against the American policies in Iraq, all participants share a rejection of US proposals for arranging the Iraqi house, including the mechanism of interim government and national conference."

The national conference was held earlier this month, with some 1,000 participants from various political movements, tribes and regions meeting to select a 100-member interim national council that will advise the government until elections can be held in January.

The council has powers to approve the 2005 budget, veto legislation with a two-thirds majority, question ministers and pick a new president or deputy president if one of them dies in office.

US Influence

But the participants of the Beirut conference dismissed the national conference as influenced by the US occupation forces, saying independence and freedom are guaranteed to their alternative institutional conference, "away from the US interference."

The Beirut conference was held by Lebanese political figures, including Waleed Gumbulat, leader of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party.

The conference is held in Beirut, "for it to under no US military authority, and for getting an Arab and regional media coverage," said Al-Rikabi.

The United States had earlier sought to foil attempts to hold a conference of Iraq's opposition factions in the northern Iraqi enclave of Arbil , Kurdish sources said February 23.

A number of Iraqi parties and religious leaders tabled a draft constitution to act as alternative to the transitional law earlier signed by the now-disbanded Governing Council and blessed by US occupation authorities.

More than 118 political, tribal and military groups - with no representation in the council - met in Baghdad on March 31, to probe the alternative measure, calls for handing over power to a "constituent assembly" instead.