Two men and a crowd

In some cases, the attacks have been more than verbal, when two Shiite leaders were shot dead in Najaf. The complexities of creating a workable democracy in Iraq, at least in these early days and weeks, are embodied in two men: Sheik Muzahim, a religious leader tapped by the British government to administer a portion of southern Iraq, and Ahmad Chalabi, an expatriate who many in the Pentagon hope will emerge as head of a transitional authority.

Muzahim is willing to accept some former Baath Party members in a new government, while Chalabi’s position is that of zero tolerance. Yet Muzahim is derided for his ties with the former regime, while Chalabi is mocked as an outsider.

At the Tammimi family home in the town of Zubayr outside Basra, tribal leaders gathered before the Friday prayer to discuss politics — and to slam inbound Iraqi expatriates.

These returnees hoping to seize power after years abroad represent the ‘‘opposition of the five-star hotels,’’ said Mansour Tammimi, advisor to Muzahim. On the contrary, said Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress opposition group, the only people who mounted effective opposition to Hussein during his reign were those living overseas.

Muzahim advocated that district police chiefs should return to work despite their close ties to Hussein’s Baath regime, arguing that law and order outweigh a full airing of past sins.

Chalabi sees no room for compromise. ‘‘That’s the same argument as in Germany after the fall of the Nazis,’’ he said. So far at least, one fault line that has not opened despite fears has been the division between Sunni Muslims, who make up about 32 per cent of the population and majority Shiites, who make up 65 per cent. (LAT-WP )