IRAQ - No Government.

Despite promises that the Middle East will be democratised and made prosperous, there seems to be a risk of the US making a mess of Iraq and the surrounding regions. Until now there is no government in Baghdad. The US-led Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA), under retired

The US is not patient, however. It wants the Iraqis to form their own interim authority (IIA). Garner said on May 5, the IIA should be formed by the middle of the month. But the five main Iraqi groups who have returned after years of exile want to convene an Afghanistan-style conference of all opposition forces in early June before the formation of an IIA.

At a second meeting convened recently by the US they were accused of steamrollering domestic groups that are only now emerging after more than 30 years of Baathist rule. Just now the exiles are in the driving seat.

Garner said the IIA could consist of up to nine individuals including all five exile leaders. The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), one of two Kurdish opposition groups to sit on a five-man leadership council set up in February, is among those urging a postponement.

KDP's foreign relations head Hoshyar Zebari said on May 5: "Everybody is very impatient to have this government as soon as possible but my...advice was: you really better get it right because if it is going to collapse after one week or two weeks then the British, the Americans are going to have to intervene again. The line would be crossed from liberation to occupier". Other parties concurred. Nouri Badran, spokesman for the Iraqi National Accord (INA), a grouping of former army officers, said: "Four weeks for the INA is too short. This is one chance for us and we cannot repeat it. If it fails the consequences will be very grave; very, very severe". He said the five main groups - the KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), INA, the Shiite Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq and the Iraqi National Congress - wanted to convene a meeting of between 300 to 350 representatives from all parties in Iraq in the first week of June.