Some 20,000 people have converged on the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah to protest the first talks in Iraq on a post-invasion government. The talks begin today. The U.S. is flying in representatives of exiled opposition groups to meet local tribal and religious leaders. Unlike local recruiting efforts around the country, these talks are by U.S. invitation only.

Iraq’s main Shia Muslim opposition group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, organized the protest against U.S. control of the talks. People chanted, “Yes to freedom! Yes to Islam! No to America! No to Saddam!” The BBC reports the Shia are concerned Washington is preparing to install a pro-U.S. puppet government.

The retired U.S. general in charge of post-invasion Iraq, Jay Garner, and President Bush’s special envoy to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, will run today’s meeting. Pentagon and State Department officials will also be present. The Bush administration’s favorite Iraqi exile to lead post-invasion Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi, is expected to be a contested topic of discussion. Chalabi is insisting he is not a candidate for any post, and is sending a representative to the talks rather than attending them himself. U.S. officials have not announced why they are holding the first meeting in Nasiriyah and not the Iraqi capital. Nasiriyah is Chalabi’s hometown, and the U.S. military airlifted him there last week with hundreds of his own troops. The U.S. has granted the United Nations observer status.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador to Morocco, Margaret Tutwiler, left for Baghdad yesterday. She’s been chosen to oversee all public relations and information operations in post-invasion Iraq. Tutwiler was the State Department spokesperson during the first Gulf War in 1991 under Bush Sr. She will now work for General Jay Garner.