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Talabani hopeful after meeting insurgents
1.5.2006
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -
President Jalal Talabani met with representatives of
seven armed groups and is optimistic they may agree
to lay down their weapons, his office said Sunday.
It was the first time a senior Iraqi official has
acknowledged talks with insurgents.
However, Talabani did not identify the groups or
specify when and where the meeting took place. The
spokesman of one major insurgent group, the Islamic
Army in Iraq, said his organization had not taken
part in such a meeting.
Last year Talabani offered to talk with insurgents
but it was unclear if any took up the offer. U.S.
officials have acknowledged meeting Iraqis who had
ties to Sunni Arab insurgents but not with
representatives of those groups.
American diplomats have also cautioned that any such
dialogue could take a long time to end the fighting
because of divisions within insurgent ranks, which
include Islamic extremists such as al-Qaida in Iraq
who show no sign of wanting to end their jihad, or
holy war, against the Americans and their Iraqi
partners. |
Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani, a Kurd
Photo: Military |
It was also unclear whether the seven groups
represented a substantial portion of the insurgency.
Talabani also did not say whether the insurgents
presented their own demands.
"I believe that a deal can be reached with the seven
armed groups that visited me," Talabani was quoted
as saying. The statement said Talabani made the
remarks Saturday during a meeting with fellow Kurds
in the Kurdish self-ruled region of Kurdistan
(northern Iraq).
According to the statement, Talabani said al-Qaida
in Iraq, led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had declared a
"genocide against the Iraqi people."
"But there are groups other than the Saddamists and
Zarqawists who joined armed operations to fight the
occupation, and we are trying to establish a
dialogue with them so they will join the political
process," he said.
Talabani's security adviser, Lt. Gen. Wafiq al-Samaraei
told Al-Arabiya television that the dialogue was
aimed at driving a wedge between religious zealots
and other insurgents.
The spokesman of the Islamic Army in Iraq, Ibrahim
al-Shammari, said his organization did not take part
in a meeting but he did not say whether others did.
"Our strategic choice is to resist the occupation by
armed force," al-Shammari told Al-Jazeera
television. "We met neither the Americans, nor the
U.S ambassador, nor with the (Iraqi) government
because it is an illegal government with no
credibility."
American officials hope the new leadership of
Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds will manage to calm
sectarian tensions and lure disaffected Sunni Arabs
away from the insurgency. That would enable the
United States and its international partners to
begin leaving Iraq.
Prime Minister-designate Nouri al-Maliki hopes to
name his Cabinet — the final step in organizing the
new government — by May 10, Iraqi officials said.
Negotiations are under way to fill key posts,
including ministers of defense, interior and oil.
In an interview Saturday with National Public Radio,
Khalilzad expressed skepticism that al-Maliki would
finish by his self-imposed deadline. He has until
late May to complete the task.
"It's good to have a deadline, but I think perhaps
he's being optimistic," Khalilzad said. "It will be
tough for him" because of competing demands of the
religiously and ethnically based parties.
Another key step in paving the way for a U.S.
drawdown is the training and equipping of the Iraqi
army and police to take on a greater security role.
U.S. officials are anxious to recruit more Sunni
Arabs into the Shiite-dominated ranks to help win
the trust of the Sunni community.
The first all-Sunni class finished its basic
training Sunday in Habaniyah, 50 miles west of
Baghdad. After the graduation ceremony, some of the
978 new soldiers began shouting and arguing when
they learned they would have to serve in Ramadi and
other dangerous parts of Sunni-dominated Anbar
province instead of their hometown of Fallujah.
Some soldiers also complained they had not been
paid. Basic training last four weeks for Iraqi
troops compared with nine weeks in the U.S. Army.
AP
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