Article

2006-02-27 Iraq

Sunnis Ready to End Boycott, Leader Says

Sunni Arabs are ready to end their boycott of talks to form a new Iraqi government if rival Shiites return mosques seized in last week's sectarian attacks and meet other unspecified demands, a top Sunni figure said Monday.

Meanwhile,Iraq's interior minister told ABC News that he believes American journalist Jill Carroll is alive and will be released, even though the Sunday deadline set by her kidnappers had passed.

Interior Minister Bayan Jabr also said he knew who abducted the 28-year-old journalist last month.

"We know his name and address, and we are following up on him as well as the Americans," he said. "I think she is still alive."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" Monday that he spoke with Jabr about Carroll's plight.

"We are doing all that we can to help bring about a release and will persist with that," Khalilzad said.

Carroll, a freelancer working for the Christian Science Monitor, was abducted Jan. 7 in Baghdad and was last seen on a videotape broadcast Feb. 10 by a Kuwaiti television station, Al-Rai. The station said the kidnappers threatened to kill her unless the United States met unspecified demands by Sunday.

In Germany, the government denied a New York Times report that its intelligence service had passed information about
Saddam Hussein's plans for defending Baghdad to the United States a month before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Times said a German intelligence officer supplied the information to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency in February 2003.

"This account is wrong," German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said. "The Federal Intelligence Service and, therefore, also the government, had until now no knowledge of such a plan."

In continuing violence, four mortar rounds exploded Monday in a Shiite neighborhood, killing four and wounding 16, police Maj. Moussa Abdul Karim said. U.S. helicopters fired on three houses 15 miles west of Samarra and arrested 10 people, Iraqi police said.

It was unclear whether the raid was linked to Wednesday's bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra, triggering the wave of reprisal attacks that shook the nation last week.

The Sunnis boycotted the talks Thursday after the Askariya shrine bombing sparked attacks against Sunni mosques in Baghdad, Basra and elsewhere. The walkout and Sunni-Shiite clashes threatened U.S. plans to establish a unity government capable of luring Sunnis away from the insurgency and raised doubts about U.S. plans to begin withdrawing some of its 138,000 soldiers this year.

Adnan al-Dulaimi, whose Iraqi Accordance Front spearheaded the Sunni boycott, said the Sunnis have not decided to return to the talks but are "intent on participating" in a new government.

"The situation is tense and within the next two days, we expect the situation to improve and then we will have talks," he told The Associated Press. "We haven't ended our suspension completely but we are on the way to end it."

He said there were "some conditions" that must be met first, chief among them the return of mosques still occupied by Shiite militants in Baghdad and Salman Pak. Al-Dulaimi did not mention the other demands, but some Sunni politicians have insisted on replacing Shiite police with Sunni soldiers in heavily Sunni areas.

Four people were killed Monday when several shells exploded near the Nasir Market in the mostly Shiite Shula area of western Baghdad, police said.

Otherwise, the city was generally peaceful Monday â the first day without extended curfews or a ban on private vehicles since the crisis erupted, pushing the nation to the brink of civil war.

Four bodies â blindfolded and handcuffed â were found Monday in Dora, a Baghdad neighborhood where a mortar barrage the night before killed 16 people and wounded 53. Two Iraqi soldiers were wounded in an ambush Monday in Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of the capital, officials said.

The U.S. military said an American soldier had died from non-combat related injuries suffered Friday north of Baghdad. The statement did not elaborate. Three soldiers were killed Sunday in combat in the capital.

Their deaths brought to at least 2,291 the number of members of the U.S. military who have died since the war began, according to an Associated Press count.

Four people were killed in a pair of shootings Monday in Baqouba, the Diyala provincial capital. The day before, gunmen killed two youths playing soccer in Baqouba and wounded five.

Although sectarian violence has receded since the attacks last week, tensions remain high between majority Shiites and the minority Sunnis. Shiites dominate ranks of the government security forces and most of the insurgents are Sunnis.

More than 60 Shiite families fled their homes in predominantly Sunni areas west and north of Baghdad after receiving threats, said Shiite legislator Jalaladin al-Saghir and Iraqi army Brig. Gen. Jalil Khallaf.

Sunni and Shiite religious leaders have called for unity and an end to attacks on each other's mosques.

Posted by tipper 2006-02-27 11:57|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 In an all-out Sunni-Shi'a civil war, the Sunnis lose--the Shi'a have them outnumbered, the Kurds would either be neutral or side with the Shi'a, and there's no big power willing to intervene to save them. The attack on the Golden Mosque has supposedly brought Iraq to the bring of civil war--like most conventional wisdom dispensed by the MSM, that's probably 'way wrong, but no matter. The threat of imminent execution concentrates the mind wonderfully.

Posted by Mike 2006-02-27 12:08|| 2006-02-27 12:08|| Front Page Top

#2 While I think everyone welcomes the news that Sunnis are ready to end their boycott of talks to form a new Iraqi governement, certain "unspecified demands" not withstanding, I think the more symbolic, and positive, news here (assuming it is true) is that American journalist Jill Carroll is alive and will be released.

The fact that the kidnappers have not carried through on their stated intentions, despite their demands not being met, is further evidence that the terrorists and other thugs of their ilk are being further marginalized by the political process and the Iraqi people in general. I think after so many years of utterly senseless violence, the Iraqis may have finally had enough. It's time to get on with the business of building better lives for themselves.

So while sectarian violence has flared up recently and sparked fears of an all out civil war, thus far indications are that the Iraqi governement, military and police forces have been able to keep things in check for the time being. They have also made considerable efforts to communicate with the Iraqi people concerning what is really at stake here: The future of their country, the future for their children. Do you want a better, brighter future or do you want to see your children grow up in a living hell? You must choose now.

Add all of this up and one may start to think that the tipping point in Iraq is upon us. And the scales are finally beginning to tip in the favor of the US: Democracy taking hold, radical muslims being further marginalized, and Iraq taking its first real steps to becoming a model for the rest of the ME.

Godspeed.

Posted by eltoroverde 2006-02-27 12:58|| 2006-02-27 12:58|| Front Page Top

#3 I mean, think about it: Iraq is struggling to achieve some kind of parliamentary democracy only a few years after a muderous, tyranically dictator was removed from power. He had almost 2 generations to force his brand of abusive government and perverted values upon the Iraqis.

In the meantime, Iraq has become a focus of radical Islamic nutcases like Zarq and the M2s of Iran, plus lackeys like Tater doing everything in their power to prevent the government from happening.

I want immediate gratification NOW like everyone else, but we must keep the above in perspective. The talk of civil war is just MSM Tranzi crap wishful thinking. We need to be in for the long haul. It means training the Iraqi Army to take greater charge of their country. It means more people will continue to rat out the terrorists and murderers, and less people will harbor them. The tide is turning, but it does not turn immediately, except in Homer, Alaska.

Posted by Alaska Paul">Alaska Paul 2006-02-27 15:37|| 2006-02-27 15:37|| Front Page Top

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