IRAQ'S new prime minister has called for a "rational dialogue" with Shi'ite rebel leader Moqtada Sadr, and asked other Muslim nations to contribute to the multinational force in Iraq once his government takes power on June 30.

US OFFICIALS were confident yesterday they were close to an agreement on Iraq’s future as they prepared to host a summit of world powers aimed at healing rifts left by last year’s invasion.

Paul Bremer, the top US administrator in Iraq, has declared radical Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr an “outlaw” who threatens Iraq’s security.

The governor’s office in the Iraqi city of Basra has been taken over in protest at coalition actions against radical Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr.

The US-led coalition in Iraq showed off the bullet-riddled corpses of Saddam Hussein’s two sons yesterday, anxious to banish any doubt that the notorious brothers had been killed by US forces.