Shawn Donnan, Jakarta – Moderate Islamic leaders say they are prepared to give US President George W. Bush a tongue-lashing over the US invasion of Iraq and what they see as the anti-Muslim tenor of Washington's war against terrorism.

At least four Indonesian Islamic leaders are due to meet Mr Bush when he makes a three-hour stop in Bali on Wednesday that the White House has been trying to sell as an effort to reach out to moderate sections of Muslim world.

Last week, Mr Bush said he wanted to reassure people suspicious of the US that its "motives are pure" and "let it be known that the vast majority of Muslims in [Indonesia] respect democracy and wish to live in peace."

That democracy may be a little more raucous than Mr Bush is bargaining for.

What seems likely to emerge from his meeting with Indonesian moderates is another sign of the growing disillusionment with the US in even the Islamic world's most moderate outposts.

Ahmad Syafii Maarif, chairman of Muhammadiyah, which, with some 30m members, is one of the world's largest moderate Islamic organisations, said he planned to scold Mr Bush for US policy towards Israel and this year's invasion of Iraq during their meeting.

"What moral right did he have to invade Iraq?" Mr Maarif said in an interview with the Financial Times. "Iraq was a sovereign state, an independent state. Why did Mr Bush send his troops to intervene?"

Mr Bush's pro-Israel policy had "closed his eyes and heart to see the reality of the global world as it is," Mr Maarif added, saying the result of that had been a growing radicalism in places such as Indonesia.

"The roots of radicalism come from the problems in the Middle East, the problems of Palestine and then Afghanistan," Mr Maarif said.

Mr Maarif and others have confirmed their plans to meet Mr Bush during his stop in Bali, however, arguing that US officials had promised them an opportunity to speak freely and to relay their message to the president.

But at least one other moderate Indonesian Islamic figure has said he plans to boycott the meeting. Abdullah Gymnastiar, an Islamic televangelist who is a favourite of visiting US dignitaries and diplomats because of his gentle sermons on self-improvement and entrepreneurialism, said he had rejected an invitation to meet the president as a protest against current US foreign policy.