Sunni group endorses peace plan
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-27 19:34 If confirmed, their offer would mark an important potential shift and could
stand as evidence of a growing divide between Iraq's homegrown Sunni insurgency
and the more brutal and ideological fighters of al-Qaida in Iraq, who are
believed to be mainly non-Iraqi Islamic militants.
Kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman linked the offer to al-Maliki's national
reconciliation plan, involving amnesty for opposition fighters except those who
had killed Iraqis, were involved in terrorism or committed crimes against
humanity. Al-Maliki's plan, disclosed Sunday, was thought to have denied amnesty
to any insurgent who had killed American forces, though the wording was vague.
The Mujahedeen Shura Council, the terrorist umbrella organization that
includes al-Qaida in Iraq, rejected the reconciliation plan.
Shiite lawmaker Hassan al-Suneid, who first reported insurgent groups'
gesture, said al-Maliki was considering a possible meeting with their leaders or
contacts through intermediaries. Al-Suneid is a member of the political bureau
of al-Maliki's Dawa Party.
The opening was confirmed by Othman, a close associate of President Jalal
Talabani, who held face-to-face talks with seven insurgent organizations about
two months ago. It was never clear which groups Talabani met with.
Al-Suneid gave the names of six of the seven organizations that approached
the government Monday: the 1920 Revolution Brigades, the Mohammed Army, Abtal
al-Iraq (Heroes of Iraq), the 9th of April Group, al- Fatah Brigades and the
Brigades of the General Command of the Armed Forces.
"I expect that those groups are the same ones that have made contacts with
President Talabani, and now they are widening the range of their contacts. Now
they are more serious after the announcement of the (reconciliation) plan,"
al-Suneid told The Associated Press.
Othman was unable to name the groups or say whether they were the same ones
Talibani had contacted. But he said they also sought talks with U.S. forces.
A meaningful truce with insurgents would make it much easier for the United
States to withdraw troops from Iraq.
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