The U.S.-led team in charge of Iraqi reconstruction went into talks with local leaders in Baghdad on Thursday, saying it did not want to see the country ruled by religious fundamentalists. Retired U.S. general Jay Garner, head of the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, invited selected Iraqis who have shown leadership qualities to the meeting, his deputy, British general Tim Cross, told reporters. Cross declined to give names of participants and said he did not know if they included Ahmad Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress which long opposed Saddam Hussein and is a favorite of Washington's.

"I don't know that he will be there. Will he be part of the process? Yes, because he has a legitimate part to play like anybody else who feels they want to play a part in the future of Iraq ," Cross said.

The meeting, which is being held under heavy security, follows several anti-American demonstrations in Baghdad by members of Iraq's Shi'ite majority who have demanded that the U.S.-led troops who ousted Saddam two weeks ago get out of the country and leave Iraqis to govern themselves.

Hundreds of thousands of Shi'ites -- long repressed under Saddam -- also celebrated a pilgrimage in the southern holy city of Kerbala this week, many of them chanting slogans in favor of Islamic rule.

"We have got to allow a period of time where people who have not been able to say anything publicly are allowed to get on the street and vent a bit of fury," Cross said.

"Clearly there are dangers. Of course there are and I do not want to see Iraq become a fundamentalist state," he said.

"There is bound to be a period where people are flexing their muscles, getting on to the street, getting their people together, in essence forming political parties, political views."

Cross said he did not believe all of Iraq's Shi'ites wanted a fundamentalist government like neighboring Shi'ite Iran.

"I genuinely believe that many of these people want to be part of a democratic Iraq...there are many people in that community who want a democratic Iraq. I'm absolutely confident of that. Don't ask me what percentage," he said.

Asked what role Baghdad's self-appointed mayor, INC official Mohammed Mohsen Zubaidi, might play in the future, Cross said the meeting on Thursday was the start of a process of establishing what the people of the capital wanted.

Cross said the INC had no special status in the talks.

"We will get a feel for how legitimate that organization is" at the meeting in Baghdad, Cross said.

PHOTO CAPTION

Retired U.S. general Jay Garner, who will run post-war Iraq , waves to a cheering crowd in the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, April 23, 2003. Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) leader Jalal Talabani told reporters after meeting with Garner that a committee would be set up under U.S. supervision to ensure an orderly return of the tens of thousands of Kurds displaced under Saddam Hussein's regime. (Pool/Reuters)