Despite the enduring violence, a UN special representative returned to Baghdad on Friday with 30 support staff. Today a thousand delegates are meeting in the capital to elect a national assembly to support the work of the interim government of Premier Iyad Allawi.

The timing of the two events is no coincidence. The appointment of former Pakistani diplomat Ashraf Jehangir Qazi as UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special representative comes eleven months after the attack on the UN headquarters which killed 22 people including Mr. Qazi’s predecessor Sergio Vieira de Mello. The conference of political, religious and civic leaders slated to choose the national assembly had been delayed a fortnight, in part because of UN concerns that it was not sufficiently representative. Once these were addressed, the Qazi mission returned, even though the larger part of the organization’s personnel remains in Amman and Kuwait City due to the chaotic situation in Iraq. The UN’s return is meant to enhance the legitimacy of today’s deliberations.

The choosing of the national assembly members today may not be as difficult as some have predicted. The appointed body is likely to mirror the constitution of the interim government with all that it entails. It is also likely to reflect the growing determination among moderates from all sides of the political spectrum that the only way forward is by continuing to work together. In this respect the continuing violence, while a danger, also serves to remind everyone of the horrors that will befall their communities if they break ranks now.

Moqtada Sadr’s Najaf-centered resistance appears to pose the greatest threat at the moment. The cleric has spurned offers to become involved in the interim government and indeed has publicly called for its resignation. Many suspect he is using the rebellion of his rag-tag Mahdi Army, drawn from the very poorest in the Shiite community, to assert his own position among the majority Shiite community against moderates led by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. Sistani’s current absence in London, where he has undergone heart surgery, is regrettable. However the views he shares with so many others will be clearly heard during the national conference.

The biggest job for Premier Allawi is going to be to persuade the meeting that the continued offensive operations by the US-led coalition forces are for the good of Iraq. The rising tide of anger at US tactics is also focused on the interim government.

If Iraqis are masters of their own destiny, why should foreigners be enforcing the peace? It is notable that attacks attributable to foreign fighters have fallen off recently, perhaps because these Al-Qaeda elements are content for the moment to let the Shiite uprising run its course along with the rumbling insurgency among die-hard Baathists.

It is clear that within the chosen members of the national assembly, room must be left for those who still believe that resistance is their only course of action. These men are wrong but they will only ever understand this if they can be shown that a place has been left for them in the debate on Iraq’s future. To shut them out, to brand them as criminals and terrorists, as the Americans want to do, is to ensure that they will continue in the path of violence.