Michael Howard

More seriously, Salem Chalabi, a U.S.-educated lawyer who heads the Iraq special tribunal, is wanted for the murder of Haitham Fadhil, a senior official with the Ministry of Finance.

Both men deny the charges.

The latest controversy to engulf Ahmed Chalabi, who has fallen out with his former U.S. sponsors, was dismissed yesterday as a minor storm by Iraqi government officials.

They are more concerned, however, that the allegations against Salem Chalabi could undermine Iraqis’ faith in the process of trying the former dictator and his henchmen. “It does not look good,” an Interior Ministry official said. “But Salem is only the organizer and he is not a judge.”

In Jordan, one of Saddam’s lawyers called Salem Chalabi’s warrant a victory for his client.

Salem Chalabi said yesterday the charges would only benefit former Baathist officials, including Saddam, who is facing trial for war crimes. “They can easily make allegations that this whole process is fraud because the director of the tribunal has all these charges against him,” he said in London.

He said he would return to Iraq to fight the charges and bring Saddam to justice, but wanted guarantees of his safety.

The charges against Ahmed Chalabi relate to a raid on his Baghdad house in May by Iraqi police and U.S. troops. An INC spokesman in Baghdad said that the raid had turned up just 3,000 dinars.

Ahmed Chalabi, who is in Tehran, said the charges were political. “The idea that I was involved in counterfeiting is ridiculous.”

He also hit at the investigating judge. Maliky “is not a bona fide Iraqi judge but rather an unqualified person who was put in his position by the American occupation authorities,” he said. “He has pursued a political vendetta against the Iraqi National Congress.”

Supporters said yesterday that the timing of the warrant could be designed to prevent Ahmed Chalabi from mediating in the crisis in Najaf.

A spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said the interim government would not interfere in the judicial procedure. “We will wait and watch. Unlike under the former regime, the courts and judges must remain free and independent,” he said.

It was an indication that the prime minister, who has been cultivating his image as a no-nonsense leader, is aware of the risks involved if he or the US forces make a false move in Najaf. If the plan to neutralise Mr Sadr works, Mr Allawi will then have only the insurgency in Sunni areas to worry about. If it fails, his government’s aim of restoring security so that elections can be held will be little more than wishful thinking.

For while there is little doubt that a US and Iraqi military campaign could dislodge Mr Sadr’s dedicated but poorly trained al-Mahdi fighters, the political fallout could inflame mainstream Shia opinion, which broadly disapproves of Mr Sadr and which Mr Allawi desperately needs on his side. In the course of either arresting or killing Mr Sadr and his young armed followers, US and Iraqi forces run the risk of being seen as “desecrators” of sacred Najaf, an act that could linger in the minds of any disaffected Shia  the majority in Iraq.

“Anything affecting the holy shrine may result in disaster,” said Adel al-Adib, a senior official of the Dawa party, a major Shia group which is part of the interim government. “The reaction will last for a long time.” The short-term consequences could be destabilising, too. “It could be portrayed as the first real atrocity of the new interim government,” Mr Adib said. “Sadrists have already started likening Mr Allawi to Saddam. If the military way is the only one pursued, it could fail and the government could lose credibility, and where would that leave us on the next step to complete sovereignty? The danger is the government will indeed be seen to be doing things like the former regime.”

Mr Sadr, who is in his early 30s, benefits from the popularity of his father, a Shia cleric killed by Saddam Hussein’s regime in 1999.

He knows he cannot rival the Shia Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in terms of religious standing, but is vying to become the paramount Shia political power. And while Mr Sistani remains away from Najaf  he has just left hospital in London after heart surgery  there is a danger that Mr Sadr’s control of Najaf will solidify.

Whatever Mr Allawi thinks of Mr Sadr he is variously described as unstable or stupid by government officials  he has tapped a vein of Iraqi and Arab nationalism, particularly among the poor, alienated Shia youth.

The unrest has prompted a number of senior Shia figures in the south to call for secession from Baghdad.

Some foreign diplomats question whether the destruction of Mr Sadr would really have a beneficial effect.

“Destroying the Mahdi army may fragment a group of youths who at least for now are under some sort of control,” one said. “If you remove their leadership, then the Shia resistance may get into a macho contest with the Sunni resistance over who can outbomb the other.”

But many agree that the costs of inaction are equally heavy. The number one on most Iraqis’ wish list is security, followed by jobs, services and a chance to have a say in their own future.

Until now Mr Allawi’s unelected administration has bought some breathing space by promising a secure environment that allows the reconstruction of the country and fair elections.

“If the interim government cannot meet its first major challenge, then its credibility will lie in tatters,” said a western diplomat.

“This is a chance for the new Iraqi state to establish the primacy of the state and the rule of law. National elections with an armed militia on the loose is unthinkable.”

Mr Allawi has gone out his way to open the door to Mr Sadr.”If the Iraqi people want Mr Sadr to be their leader, they will be able to elect him,” he said again yesterday.

Mr Sadr refuses to recognise the interim government. But his decision this week to agree to the terms of the national conference, plus the presence of his supporters there, indicate some willingness to deal with new institutions in Iraq.

“I came here from Najaf so my voice could be heard,” said one woman, a teacher. “Do you think I’m going to be silenced by a few mortar shells?”

She, like everyone else, had come from across Iraq yesterday, defying the parlous security situation. There were tribal sheikhs from Kirkuk, women’s activists from Basra, businessmen from Fallujah and former peshmerga from Kurdistan. There were Muslims, Yezidis, Shabaks, Christians, Turkomen, Kurds and Arabs. There were teachers, judges, doctors and preachers.

It was the first time since the fall of Saddam that Iraq’s disparate and often discordant voices could be heard in one place. And for those desperate to see some light at the end of the tunnel it was a long-awaited first step.

Held under the shadow of the insurgency and counterinsurgency, that the conference was taking place at all was seen as a victory.

“Your presence here today is the biggest challenge to the forces of darkness that want to tear this country apart,” the prime minister, Iyad Allawi, said in his opening remarks. “This is not the end of the road; it is the first step on the way to democracy.”

The task before them is to elect Iraq’s first post-Saddam assembly and start a “national dialogue” on the country’s most pressing problems. It was words, not bullets, that did the fizzing. A delegate from the province of Anbar in the Sunni triangle called for self-rule for his region. Another from Basra complained about the marginalization of Iraq’s second city. A woman from Najaf raged against the occupation of her hometown — not by U.S. forces but by the black-shirted young men of Muqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi army.

From the outset, the violence in the holy city of Najaf threatened to dominate the proceedings. If the Americans or the interim government were expecting a pat on the back for their tough stand, they had to think again.

As the opening session wound up — after speeches from the Iraqi president, Ghazi al-Yawar; the prime minister; and the U.N. special representative, Ashraf Qazi — a group of Shiite delegates standing near the back started to heckle, then to chant.

“Yes, yes Najaf,” they shouted, punching the air with clenched fists. “We want the president to hear what we have to say. Unless the bloodshed in Najaf stops, we will withdraw.”

Iraq’s new political leaders were sanguine. “The point of this conference is to get talking to one another, to get some kind of national dialogue going,” said Hamid al-Khifai, the cabinet spokesman.

“Najaf is an emotive issue and it is understandable that it be raised. If you had shouted like that under Saddam you would have been taken out and shot.”

The conference organizers decided to deal directly with the issue. They passed a resolution calling on all sides in the conflict to stop the violence, and appointed a negotiating committee to try to find a solution.

Then it was on with other important business: the election of the interim assembly and the creation of four working groups dealing with topics such as security, transitional justice and reconstruction. The delegates will elect 80 of the 100 seats in the assembly, with the remaining 20 going to former members of the governing council.

The assembly, or Iraqi National Council, will have the power to veto legislation with a two-thirds majority, approve Iraq’s 2005 budget and appoint a new prime minister or president should either resign or die in office.

There were of course some who stayed away, whether out of pique at not being given the prominence they thought they deserved or because they preferred not to have anything to do with the interim government or its American backers.

Allawi insisted the political process was open to all. But the selection of delegates had been criticized for not being inclusive enough, and organizers were accused of stacking the conference with pro-government delegates.

The most important absence was that of Sadr’s movement. Although organizers continued to insist that he or his representatives were welcome, the militant cleric under siege in Najaf shunned the invitation. There was no show either by Ahmed Chalabi, the controversial leader of the Iraqi National Congress. Chalabi is wanted on counterfeiting charges.

“This will be no magic wand,” said Fouad Massoum, the conference chairman. “We cannot solve all of Iraq’s problems in three days, but we have to start somewhere.”