Baghdad residents poured cold water on Iraq's new Governing Council today, saying they would not support a US-backed institution or politicians who lived abroad while they suffered under Saddam Hussein.
But while US and UN officials in Iraq hailed the meeting as historic, Iraqis did not make a big deal of it - and some had not heard about it at all.
"We cannot back the council. It is backed by America and it won't change anything. America has just made empty promises," said Sabah Kathim, who makes about three dollars a day selling ice.
"I used to stop reading newspapers so I would not have to read about Saddam. Now I don't want to read about the Americans."
"Elections have to happen quickly or else the theft and insecurity will continue in the streets," said Ghada Abboud, a seamstress in a middle class neighbourhood in Baghdad.
"We don't want Iraqi leaders who have been living abroad for years who did not see our problems inside Iraq. They have to know how we lived to rule us."
Kathim Hashim shook his head when asked about the council, which critics say was handpicked by the US-led administration controlling Iraq.
"The American soldiers just drive around and make promises through loudspeakers. They do nothing. Just over there a thief shot and killed someone this morning," he said.
Hashim and his friends said Iraqis had little respect for Council members like Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi National Congress leader convicted for embezzlement in Jordan.