"In Baghdad?" one delegate asked another in disbelief. "Yes, in Baghdad," the other replied.
Thousands of demonstrators marched through the sun-baked capital's streets, meanwhile, calling for unity of Shia and Sunni Muslims, of Iraqi Arabs and Iraqi Kurds.
In a symptom of the disorganization and communications problems that have plagued the US occupation in its first days, dozens of delegates couldn't reach the hall immediately. Instead, they drove in circles around traffic-choked central Baghdad, repeatedly blocked by Army checkpoints from entering the site. The opening was delayed by two hours.
As he sought entry to the conference, al-Bazzaz, a former Iraqi publisher, said he expected the discussions to produce a "a sort of government, a sort of authority."
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