BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Though the international community shows great enthusiasm for joining a multi-way conference on Iraq at Egypt's Red Sea resort, Iraqis are uninterested in such a gathering concerning their own fate.

    In the Iraqi streets, people believe that the conference initiated by Washington will only serve the US political goals to tighten its grip on the war-wrecked country.

    Mohamed Salih, a lawyer, said the conference should discuss allissues concerning Iraq, including the withdrawal of the occupation forces.

    Yet a draft statement to be discussed at the scheduled Nov. 22-23 conference in Sharm el-Sheikh makes no mention of a timetable for a US troop withdrawal or a date for Iraqi elections. 

    It focuses on Iraq's stability and reconstruction, calling on donor nations to expedite the imbursement of promised funds and also to consider writing off Iraq's foreign debts estimated at 125 billion US dollars, or five times its GDP.

    Salih said he supports the French position, especially the partrelated to inviting the Iraqi opposition groups to the meeting. 

    France, which strongly opposed the US-led war in Iraq, has called for a broader gathering to allow Iraqi political forces opposing the American presence and the interim government to participate.

    The United States and Iraq's interim government led by Iyad Allawi have, however, objected to opposition elements attending the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting.

    Egyptian officials acknowledged that disputes are continuing among participating countries over the conference's proposed agenda and the possible attendance of Iraqi opposition groups is one of the disagreements.

    According to the organizers, the conference will attract Iraqand its neighbors, Egypt, the Group of Eight leading industrialized countries, China, the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the European Union. 

    UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected in Egypt on Nov. 21 to attend the two-day conference.

    US Secretary of State Colin Powell will head the US delegation to the talks at ministerial level.

    Ahmed Hussein, a retired Iraqi governmental employee, said "I think the conference would come out with no tangible results. The most it could do is to emphasize the need to respect Iraq's sovereignty and territorial integrity and calls for the implementation of UN Resolution 1546 adopted in June."  

    The Iraqi News Agency, which was recently founded, quoted Abdul Ameer al-Rikabi, general secretary of the preparatory conference of the Iraqi national council (parliament), as saying on Sunday that "the international conference on Iraq has no chance of success if it is merely a diplomatic show."

    Rikabi asserted that the conference highlights the American political hardship and would increase the tension in Iraq and the region.

    George Hadad, a freelancer in Baghdad, commented on the idea that the conference sets to entitle the United Nations to play a pivotal role in rebuilding Iraq, saying the motive behind this is to legitimize the US illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. Enditem