IRAQ: There were 10 killings in Iraq yesterday. But at the democracy forum, the talk was all about elections, reports Jack Fairweather.
There was one thing Iraqis at the democracy forum wanted: free and universal elections. What they got was a lesson in democracy, occupation-style, as US officials pushed ahead with the hard sell on the national caucus that will select Iraq's first sovereign government.
The plans have provoked anger in Iraq, with tens of thousands of Iraqis taking to the streets in support of full elections. Yesterday, 100 Baghdadis filed into an exclusive club in the centre of the city to hear the other side of the story from members of their local council.
"Ladies and gentlemen, no one in this country has been able to ask questions in 35 years," said Cllr Ziad al-Qattam, introducing the forum, the first in a nationwide campaign offering tea, biscuits and power point displays on how US plans for indirect elections were just democracy by another name.
Full elections this summer were off the agenda, delegates were told, because of the lack of time and security. "Let's stick to talking about the national caucus," instructed Councillor al-Qattam. The sheikhs, teachers, ex-army officers, and local politicians did their best. At a series of round table discussions the principles for a new government were discussed: religious and ethnic tolerance, federalism. The range of conversation is an indication of how successful US attempts have been to establish a vigorous debate at local government level.
Over 200 local councils - unheard of under Saddam - have been set up. Mr Peter Benedict, head of Research Triangle Institute, the agency tasked with establishing local government said: "Iraqis have got a real taste of what participation in local government is like over the past few months.
"That desire is now being transferred to a national level. There's no going back once you begin bringing democracy to a country." At the forum yesterday discussion was soon back to the holding of free elections in the summer.
"It's quite simple for me," said Mr Saleh Sarhan, a former brigadier, "the Iraqis must have their voices heard through democratic elections. This is why Iraq has suffered for so long."
Sheikh Bassim Ali, an imam, said: "The Iraqi people are an advanced society. We know what democracy means, and we can tell that a national caucus will not give us that."