IRAQ

Stuff.nz: US tries to curb Iraqi resentment
BAGHDAD: Iraq's new US administrators met Baghdad officials yesterday to organise the restoration of vital services to the battered city, essential if the Americans are to curb mounting resentment among the population.

As disputes dragged on over who runs the capital and the rest of the country after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in the Gulf to thank allies for their help in the Iraq war.

A senior US official said Jay Garner, the retired American general in charge of postwar administration, would meet 300-400 prominent Iraqis in Baghdad on Monday to identify potential national leaders and discuss forming a new government.

Barbara Bodine, coordinator for central Iraq under Garner, said Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress, had been invited to the meeting, as had the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), the country's main Shi'ite Muslim group.

It was unclear whether they would attend.