US Officials Begin Talks With Iraqi Insurgents

Attemtpting to take advantage of a rift between homegrown insurgents and foreign Al Qaeda members, the United States has entered into negotiations with Iraqi insurgents:


Citing a Western diplomat, an Iraqi political leader and an Iraqi insurgent leader, the Times said that the talks were also aimed at drawing the local leaders into the political process.

According to interviews with insurgents and both U.S. and Iraqi officials, clashes between Iraqi groups and al Qaeda have broken out in several cities across the Sunni Triangle and they appear to have intensified in recent months, the Times said.

A Western diplomat who supports the talks told the Times that the Americans had opened face-to-face discussions with insurgents in the field, and were also communicating with senior insurgent leaders through intermediaries.

The diplomat said the goal was to take advantage of rifts in the insurgency, in particular those between local groups, whose main goal is to expel U.S. forces, and more radical groups like al Qaeda, which have alienated many Iraqis with violent campaigns that have resulted in mass killings of Iraqi civilians.

The diplomat said the talks were taking place "inside and outside Iraq" and began in the fall around the time of the referendum on the new Iraqi constitution on October 15, the Times said. While U.S. officials have made contact with insurgent groups in the past, the diplomat said the more recent contacts were far more significant.

In particular, the diplomat said the talks, of which few details were available, aimed to take advantage of a perceived willingness among Sunni Arabs to take part in politics after large numbers went to the polls for the first time.

Tarik al-Hashimy, the leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, who said he was in periodic contact with insurgent leaders and had asked them to hold their fire during the elections, told the Times he did not think the talks had made much progress. But the Western diplomat said he hoped to begin to convince insurgent groups that the new government, which is expected to contain a number of Sunni leaders, was worth supporting.

The diplomat did not specify which groups the Americans were speaking to, but the Times said it seemed likely that they included groups like the Islamic Army in Iraq and Muhammad's Army, which are believed to comprise mainly Iraqi nationalists and former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Insurgents told the newspaper that there is widespread hatred for al Qaeda among ordinary Iraqis. Abu Amin, an insurgent leader in Yusefiya and a former captain in the Iraqi Army, told the Times the Americans were especially interested in securing help against al Qaeda, about whom they asked many questions: "Do you have a relationship with? Can you help us attack al Qaeda? Can you uproot al Qaeda from Iraq?"


We can help them, but the price will be the end of the preaching of Jihad, the end of Burqas, the end of strict Sharia, and the implementation of Freedom of conscience and a Democratic Republic.