Eighty people, including White House envoy Zalmay Khalilzad attended the gathering under a golden tent by the famed ruins of Ur, the biblical birthplace of Abraham.

"What better place than the birthplace of civilization could you have for the beginning of a free Iraq?" said Jay Garner, the retired US general named to lead an interim administration in Iraq.

As the gathering was underway, about 20,000 Shiite Muslims protested in the nearby town of Nasiriyah against US influence over the nation's future.

But Khalilzad, who said he brought special greetings from US President George W. Bush, stressed the United States had "no intention of ruling Iraq."

"We want you to establish your own democratic system based on Iraqi traditions and values," he told the delegates, who included local and exile opposition leaders.

Emotional scenes marked the gathering, with Entifad Qanbar, a Washington-based member of the Iraqi National Congress crying as he landed in Iraq, and another exile dropping to his knees and kissing the ground.

During the meeting, Iraqi exile Hatem Mukhliss urged Iraqis to accept a government based on the rule of law.

"Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country," he said, quoting former US president John F. Kennedy.

A senior US official in Ur, near the southern town of Nasiriyah, said the meeting concluded with delegates voting by a show of hands to convene again in 10 days.

SPACE.WIRE