The meeting will "bring together liberated Iraqis from freed areas of Iraq (and) members of the Iraqi opposition" as well as "representatives from various groups and organizations," said spokesman Richard Boucher.

The US delegation will be led by Zalmay Khalilzad, the White House special representative to the Iraqi opposition, to be accompanied by Ryan Crocker, the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.

A spokesman for the Iraqi National Congress (INC) had told AFP in London earlier Friday that Iraq's internal and exiled opposition had been invited to the Tuesday meeting by the commander of US forces in the Gulf, General Tommy Franks, at a military base outside Nasiriyah.

"There will be one representative from each (Iraqi opposition) political movement only," said spokesman Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, adding that retired US general Jay Garner, who is due to take up the helm of an interim administration for Iraq in the coming days, will also attend.

Boucher said: "We expect this to be the first in a series of regional meetings that will provide a forum for Iraqis to discuss their vision of the future and their ideas regarding the Iraqi Interim Authority."

He added: "We hope these meetings will culminate in a nationwide conference that can be held in Bagdad in order to form the Iraqi Interim Authority."

The State Department had earlier objected to Nasiriyah as the venue for the meeting because it is the fief of controversial INC leader Ahmad Chalabi, the Pentagon's favorite to become Iraq's next leader.

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