NYT: Americans Said to Meet Rebels, Exploiting Rift (Iraq) [View All]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/07/international/middleeast/07insurgents.html?hp&ex=1136610000&en=0349e2b7c783e836&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Americans Said to Meet Rebels, Exploiting Rift

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Jan. 6 - American officials are talking with local Iraqi insurgent leaders to exploit a rift that has opened between homegrown insurgents and radical groups like Al Qaeda, and to draw the local leaders into the political process, according to a Western diplomat, an Iraqi political leader and an Iraqi insurgent leader.

Clashes between Iraqi groups and Al Qaeda have broken out in several cities across the Sunni Triangle, including Taji, Yusefiya, Qaim and Ramadi, and they appear to have intensified in recent months, according to interviews with insurgents and with American and Iraqi officials.

In an interview on Friday, a Western diplomat who supports the talks said that the Americans had opened face-to-face discussions with insurgents in the field, and that they were communicating with senior insurgent leaders through intermediaries.

...

Tarik al-Hashimy, the leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, who said he was in periodic contact with insurgent leaders and had asked them to hold their fire during the elections, said he did not think the talks had made much progress. One of the main sticking points, he said, was the demand by the insurgents for a timetable for withdrawal of American forces, which President Bush has repeatedly refused.