Washington: The United States will insist on Democracy in Iraq, but there can be a Democracy, which has religious elements to it provided people are "free", White House said.

"The goals of liberated Iraq, from the point of view about what type of government the US seeks, is a Democracy, a country that welcomes different religions, that has freedom of speech, freedom to worship, free press," Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said at his briefing on April 22.

The US goal, he said, is not inconsistent with a state that has religious elements to it.

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"Certainly you can have a state that has religious elements to it… that welcomes openness and worship and freedom."

Fleischer also said, "We want to make certain that elements of the previous Ba'athist regime are not able to return to positions of power. Those are the parameters under which we are working."

Asked if those Iraqis who might want a state along the lines of Iran's were out of luck, Fleischer said the US would not like to replace one type of dictatorship with another.

PTI