Iraq insurgents plan to escalate attacks (but offer "truce")

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http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L18745062&WTmodLoc=World-R5-Alertnet-2

INTERVIEW-Iraq insurgents plan to escalate attacks

AMMAN, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Iraqi former officers and soldiers behind a four-year insurgency plan to escalate attacks after the hanging of their leader Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi Sunni politician said on Thursday.

Sheikh Majeed al-Gaood, who has ties with the former regime's once powerful army generals and officers who form the backbone of the Sunni insurgency, said the message came from Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the most senior member of the past regime still at large.

"The Mujahid (holy warrior) Izzat urged them to escalate their attacks to attain victory God willing, against the occupiers and their backers, the traitors," Gaood said.

But Gaood said insurgents were ready to offer Washington a "truce", scaling down military operations against U.S. troops if they cracked down on Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.

"The resistance is ready to reduce their attacks against the Americans in return for ending their logistical support to the militias behind death squads and the ethnic cleansing," Gaood said.