Americans and rebels begin talks on timetable for withdrawal from Iraq

[ckramer]

American officials are talking to negotiators from the anti-US resistance in Iraq, whom they have denounced in the past as foreign fighters and remnants of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Insurgent leaders and Pentagon officials have confirmed to Time magazine that talks have taken place for the first time in the heavily fortified Green Zone in Baghdad.

The Sunni guerrillas want a timetable for a US withdrawal, first from Iraqi cities and then from the country as a whole. American officials aim to see if they can drive a wedge between nationalist guerrillas and fanatical Islamist groups.

Abu Marwan, a resistance commander, is quoted as saying that the insurgents want to "fight and negotiate". They are modelling their strategy on that of the IRA and Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland. This means creating a united political organisation with a programme opposed to the US occupation.

US military commanders are now dubious about the chances of winning an outright military victory over the Sunni rebels who have a firm core of supporters among the five million-strong Sunni Muslim community. The US military has lost 1,479 dead and 10,740 wounded in Iraq since the invasion began in March 2003.

indepedent

[leftchick]

1. is this an Onion piece?

it reads like one if you know the reality on the ground in Iraq.

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

2. Withdraw?

To Iran?

[bemildred]

3. Looking for a way to sucker the resistance, is what they are doing. nt

[solinvictus]

4. But,but.....

I didn't think we were going to negotiate with terrorists? Won't that be an admission on our part that terrorism actually works? <<< sarcasm in case you didn't notice.

[ckramer]

5. When the insurgents can draw Americans to the table

that means they are too strong to be defeated.

[bemildred]

6. "First they ignore you, then they attack you, then you win" nt

[Damien]

7. TIME magazine has a large article on this

My issue is sitting at home, I didn't have time to more than glance at it this morning. Check it out if this is interesting to you.

[Xithras]

8. Finally, a glimmer of rationality

You'll pardon me for being cynical about this though...the US has a long history of abandoning wartime treaties.

Still, the insurgency in Iraq does come in two parts. The larger Iraqi nationalist part simply wants the US, the occupying force, out of their country. If they can come to a treaty and a timetable for a pullout, Iraq may actually be able to stabilize and a reasonable peace may be acheivable.

The smaller part, the Muslim fundamentalist al Queda wannabes, are the enemies of both the Iraqi's and the Americans, and should be easy enough to flush out if they lose their cover under the nationalist guerrillas.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Don't get your hopes up

The Paris peace talks begin between U. S. and Vietnamese officials began on May 10, 1968. The last American troops left Vietnam in 1975.

Don

[NYC]

9. Rebels?

Is the description evolving? Insurgents, Saddam supporters, dead enders, enemy combatants, foreign fighters, now rebels. Rebels seems a respectable word. (Not in that order, and I may have missed a few descriptive terms.)

Interesting that when we want to negotiate with them, they are "rebels".

Also interesting that only a day or two ago, Hillary Clinton couldn't discuss a time table because it would enable the insurgents (or whatever they were called) to bide their time.

P.S. I guess "dubious" means we give up.

...US military commanders are now dubious about the chances of winning an outright military victory over the Sunni rebels who have a firm core of supporters among the five million-strong Sunni Muslim community...

Time to move on to the next war, I guess.

[daleo]

10. When it's convenient, they will be re-named "freedom fighters".

If the Shiite government is too tight with Iran, Bush will want to overthrow the election and re-install a Saddam-like Sunni dictatorship. Then, we will start hearing the term "freedom fighter" being applied to the Sunni resistance.

[NYC]

12. You're absolutely correct.

I wonder if that's the way things will go.