Posted on 12/09/2006 5:54:02 PM PST by jmc1969
SECRET talks in which senior American officials came face-to-face with some of their most bitter enemies in the Iraqi insurgency broke down after two months of meetings, rebel commanders have disclosed.
The meetings, hosted by Iyad Allawi, Iraq’s former prime minister, brought insurgent commanders and Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, together for the first time.
After months of delicate negotiations Allawi, a former Ba’athist and a secular Shi’ite, persuaded three rebel leaders to travel to his villa in Amman, the Jordanian capital, to see Khalilzad in January.
“The meetings came about after persistent requests from the Americans. It wasn’t because they loved us but because they didn’t have a choice,” said a rebel leader who took part.
Hopes were high when the insurgent leaders greeted Khalilzad in Amman. The Iraqis had just held their first democratic elections for a permanent government and the US ambassador hoped to broker an enduring political settlement.
Feelers had been put out to Iraqi insurgents before but not at such a high level. “The Americans had been flirting with such meetings for a while, but they needed to sit down with people who carried more weight in the insurgency,” said one leader of the National Islamic Resistance.
“I told Khalilzad that we had the know-how and the manpower to regain control of Baghdad and rid it of the pro-Iranian militias,” one of the insurgent commanders added.
The atmosphere eventually soured at a meeting said to have been attended by Khalilzad and six US generals as well as tribal leaders from Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala and other hotspots. Each side apparently accused the other of stepping up attacks during the supposed period of grace and the insurgents refused to have lunch with the generals on the grounds that they were military occupiers.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Secret?
Shhhhhh...
why dont they host war games in Iran? Pro iraqi militias....
Sounds like an analysis of Khalilzad's current power, or lack thereof.
What a Bush of crap!
But, but, but, but... we are talking to them!
What can be wrong, we are nice, really nice, gee!
Pillow talk during war NEVER works.
If we talk to them they will see that we are really nice people and then they will like us and Bush's war will be over and they won't blow us up and everybody will be happy.
If they weren't, they know now the futility of trying to play patty-cake with bloodthirsty animals.
I hope W trashcanned their idiotic and passe report.
Leni
I very much hope that this report is bogus.
The talks probably broke down because the other side got most of what they wanted. Why else would we be hearing about it now?
Well, I hope they're not continuing, anyway.
This isn't a negotiation. This is people who think they've won dictating surrender terms.
Now who's bright idea was it to negotiate with terrorists? I thought Bush said something to the effect of not negotiating with terrorists.
This thing isn't going to be resolved by talking to "three rebel leaders" or "tribal leaders." Those guys control little pieces of a gigantic puzzle. Islam has been causing people to fight Westerners for centuries, nothing said in any meeting in Amman or anywhere else is going to change that. Iraq is just showing us the reality that has been obscured for some.
"Brushing aside the results of Iraq’s democratic elections, the insurgents proposed that an emergency government be formed under Allawi’s leadership."
Was this an attempted Allawi coup?
Sort of a lame attempt, but yeah, I think so.
Again,
How can you talk to people who's first request is that you Die?
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