In Iraq, 500 Iraqi scholars met in Baghdad this weekend to develop a plan to end the U.S. occupation. The organizers called themselves the United Iraqi Scholars Group and included Shia, Sunni and Kurdish scholars who opposed the US presence in Iraq. According to the BBC, the conference set up a 16-member panel and pledged to boycott any US-sponsored political group, including the Iraqi Governing Council. The group also pledged to re-establish the national army and to restore sovereignty under the auspices of the United Nations.