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Yahoo said:LONDON - U.S. officials held secret talks in Iraq with the commanders of several Iraqi insurgent groups recently in an attempt to open a dialogue with them, a British newspaper reported Sunday.
The commanders "apparently came face to face" with four American officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, according to The Sunday Times.
The Sunday Times said neither the Iraqi government nor U.S. officials in Baghdad would confirm its report about the talks.
Military officials in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for comment on the Times article early Sunday morning.
The story, which quoted unidentified Iraqis whose groups were purportedly involved in the talks, said those at the first meeting included Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Iraq and an attack that killed 22 people in the dining hall of a U.S. base at Mosul last Christmas.
Two others were Jaish Mohammed, or Mohammed's Army, and the Islamic Army in Iraq, which in August reportedly killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, the newspaper said.
One of the Americans at the talks introduced himself as a Pentagon representative and declared himself ready to "find ways of stopping the bloodshed on both sides and to listen to demands and grievances," The Sunday Times said... continued
GarzaUK said:It seems the administration has wised up and realized it can't defeat terrorism or the insurgency by force.
I hope the US is in dialogue, for the sake of the Iraqi people.
The Bush Amdin had previously said that we can never negotiate with terrorists.Connecticutter said:So I don't think the Bush administration is saying that "Force is never the answer."
GarzaUK said:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050626/ap_on_re_eu/britain_iraq
If this is true then it is very interesting. It seems the administration has wised up and realized it can't defeat terrorism or the insurgency by force - which I've been saying all alone :2wave: lol.
I hope the US is in dialogue, for the sake of the Iraqi people.
FiremanRyan said:if you can find one source that quotes the Bush Admin saying that they planned to defeat terrorism solely by force, or even all terrorism for that matter, ill do a backflip.
i dont see why this is even worth discussing. obviously, as larger, more organized insurgent groups arise, they would have to make some sort of contact with them. whether or not it helps, i guess we'll have to see. these people are beyond irrational.
this is probably about representation. in Iraq, most of these terror groups represent certain minorities within the country. what theyre literally saying is that if we allow them seats within the new Iraqi government, they will stop the terrorism.
MikeyC said:Well, though the insurgents may be evil, I am proud of the US for recognizing the value of talking. Maybe we can finally understand their true goals instead of assuming all they care about is killing Americans. I'm sure we'd like to believe that, but I think it's more likely that they have greater goals they wish to accomplish for themselves.
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