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| Iraq |
| Some insurgent groups want to negotiate surrender to Talabani |
| 2005-11-24 |
| Several insurgents groups have contacted President Jalal Talabani's office in the past few days, with some saying they are ready to lay down their arms and join the political process, the presidential security adviser said Thursday. Lt. Gen. Wafiq al-Samaraei told The Associated Press that "the calls we received were different. The calls were also from different groups." Al-Samaraei, a former military intelligence chief under Saddam Hussein, did not say whether the groups were Muslim extremists or belonged to Saddam's Baath Party. Talabani said last weekend in Egypt he was ready for talks with anti-government opposition figures as well as Baathists. He called the Sunni-led insurgents to lay down their weapons and join the political process. "Many groups have called and some of them clearly expressed the readiness to join the political process," al-Samaraei said. This shows that "the initiative was welcomed by Iraqis." In the western province of Anbar, members of some militant groups told the AP that they had been in talks with Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Chalabi for about two weeks but would not say how they were going. On Monday, al-Samaraei told Al-Jazeera television that he received a call from a person who claimed to be a senior official of the resistance who was interested in talks. He would not elaborate. During remarks last Sunday in Cairo, Talabani said his offer to talk with insurgents did not extend to members of Saddam's Baath Party unless they agreed to lay down their weapons. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #4 Talabani's insistence that they disarm seems to indicate that he's learned a thing or two from what happened in Fallujah. As we've noted during our observations on the Israeli-Palestinian peace processor, it's the disarmament issue that is almost always the stickler when discussing truces, cease-fires, or what not. |
| Posted by: Dan Darling 2005-11-24 13:09 |
| #3 In Fallujah, the deal they got allowed them to have a local 'security force'. The Iraqi government would have to be crazy to allow that again. As long as they accept Iraqi government forces in their towns they should be allowed to surrender. |
| Posted by: Apostate 2005-11-24 12:52 |
| #2 This worked so well in Fallujah..... These terrorists have no problem with lying and breaking their word to those they consider 'infidels' (which includes most muslims). |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-11-24 12:24 |
| #1 I thought we were losing. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2005-11-24 12:20 |