US civil administrator Paul Bremer preached the need for a unified Iraq on Wednesday while offering no hint of special rights for the Shiite Muslim majority that dominates southern Iraq. Bremer's visit to the holy city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad, pointedly avoided contact with the Shiite clergy that includes the powerful Ayatollah Ali Sistani, leader of the Hawza theological institution. The Americans have moved cautiously around the Shiite issue while hoping Iraq will emerge with a secular state and government free of influence from the Islamic Republic of Iran. "A representative government does not mean a government divided by any particular designation," Bremer said in response to a question about how the coalition would assign Shiite and Sunni leaders to a forthcoming Iraqi governing council.
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