Iraqi politicians brought the deep divisions in their country to Cairo today at the start of a three-day conference meant to promote national reconciliation.
While Shi'ite Muslim and Kurdish leaders called for condemnations of violence by insurgents, Sunni Muslim leaders said the US occupation was the root of the problem and terrorism would continue until the Americans leave.
When President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said some groups were beyond the pale, Sunnis accused them of trying to exclude some Iraqis from dialogue.
Talabani said religious extremists who advocate violence and associates of ousted Baathist Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had no role in the political process.
"Our national unity ... does not include under any circumstance the murderers and criminals among the followers of the old regime, who left us mass graves, or among the takfiris (Muslims who call other Musims infidels)," he said.
"We have drawn a red line. There is no place for the Baath in Iraq... This is an Iraqi reality," added Jaafari.
Harith al-Dhari, Sunni head of the Muslim Clerics' Association, said: "I was sorry to hear what I heard from the prime minister, whose speech let down hopes of understanding ... because it clearly contained a spirit of exclusion."
The Arab League organisers and the Egyptian hosts also preached the virtues of inclusion as a way to prevent Iraq sliding further towards a sectarian civil war.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said national reconciliation was the key to a successful political process in Iraq and to a gradual end to the presence of foreign forces.
"The password for building the new Iraq ... is ensuring that all the sons of Iraq take part, without exception or marginalisation," he added.
One of the insurgent groups, the Army of the Victorious Sect, ridiculed the Cairo conference in a statement on a Web site often used by insurgents.
"This conference being held in Cairo while the Crusaders and their accomplices are killing Muslims is just like the other conferences that have sold Muslim honour and wealth for the lowest price to Crusaders and Jews," it said.