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| Iraq |
| Iraq willing to dialogue with hard boyz |
| 2005-11-27 |
| Some Iraqi rebel groups say they are ready to engage in the political process, a top aide to President Jalal Talabani said Saturday, after the government warned of a renewed offensive against insurgents. âWe have received calls from people who said they belonged to armed groups,â Talabaniâs national security advisor Lieutenant-General Wafeeq al-Sammarai told AFP, adding that the callers âsaid they were ready to join the political process.â They included Islamists and Baathists from the now banned party of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, said Sammarai, who was the head of Iraqi military intelligence in the 1991 Gulf War. At a meeting of Iraqi political leaders in Cairo last weekend, Talabani said he was prepared to talk to rebels in a bid to end the deadly insurgency that has gripped the country since Saddamâs downfall in 2003. âIf those who describe themselves as the Iraqi resistance want to get in touch with me, they are welcome to do so,â Talabani said. The Cairo meeting was held to pave the ground for a reconciliation conference next year in Baghdad and to encourage minority Sunni Arabs, seen as backing the insurgency, to join the political process instead. Sammarai gave no further details on which rebel groups might have been in touch, or how much of a following they might have within the insurgency which US forces described as multi-faceted. The announcement comes amid a wave of suicide bombings and sectarian-related shootings that have left at least 180 over the past week in the run-up to the resumption of Saddamâs trial on Monday. On Thursday, Interior Minister Bayan Baker Solagh told reporters that security forces were preparing to launch a comprehensive sweep involving 10,000 men throughout the country against rebels before the December 15 elections. âWe are going to strike forcefully at the hotbeds of terrorism in different regions,â he said. Government spokesman Leith Kubba has warned that âone should expect an increase in violence in the run-up to the December 15 elections,â saying those responsible were âcriminals and partisans of Saddam Husseinâ. Sammarai said those who contacted him were all Iraqis and that he would have no dealings with foreign fighters such as Jordanian-born Al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose group is behind most of the bloodiest attacks. Zarqawi condemned Talabaniâs initiative and is widely believed to be attempting to spark a sectarian war in Iraq between Sunnis and Shiites in effort to increase chaos and discredit the US-backed government. In two attacks on Thursday, both south of Baghdad, a suicide car bombing against a hospital in Mahmudiyah killed 30 people and a car bomb in a shopping district of Hilla left three dead and 16 wounded. Several Sunni Arab political and religious leaders have also been gunned down over the past weeks, including a tribal leader and four of his relatives early Wednesday by gunmen dressed as Iraqi soldiers. In Baghdad, security officials were preparing for the resumption of the trial of Saddam, who along with seven co-accused faces charges linked to the killing of 148 Shiite villagers. The first witnesses for the prosecution are expected to be called. They could testify from behind screens or with faces masked to protect their anonymity, according to a US official close to the tribunal. Saddam and his co-accused could face execution if found guilty. Meanwhile, Lithuanian Defense Minister Gediminas Kirkilas said his country would reduce the number of its soldiers serving in Iraq at the start of next year. Some 100 Lithuanian troops are currently deployed in Iraq, around 50 under Polish command in central Iraq and 50 under Danish command in the British-controlled southern sector. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |