Russian companies want assurances from Washington that an American-backed post-Hussein government will honor their contracts with the current regime.

Instead, he referred to plans to ease the burden of ordinary Iraqis, promising that a post-Hussein government would respect minority rights and that American forces would make adequate food and medical supplies available.

The leading candidate for strongman, among secular Iraqis, at least, would be Ayad Allawi, whom the Americans named prime minister in the first post-Hussein government, in 2004.

The two men briefly discussed plans for a post-Hussein Iraqi government.

"The idea of a provisional central government is just a power grab, as far as I can see," said a person involved in State Department planning for a post-Hussein government.

Each side has accused the others of trying to use the conference to gain control of a post-Hussein Iraqi government.

But the two documents, neither of which had yet been formally endorsed by the delegates, sidestepped the most difficult issues that any post-Hussein government would face.

"My guess is that 80 percent of the people here won't have any role in a post-Hussein government," said an American observer, who asked not to be identified.

He is confident, though, that the disparate groups will meet and hammer out the mechanisms necessary for putting an interim post-Hussein government in place.

In contemplating an occupation, the administration is scaling back the initial role for Iraqi opposition forces in a post-Hussein government.