Top Sunni seeks Iraq truce as US pushes attack

[ECH1969]

Many Sunni leaders share the goals of some insurgents -- ending U.S. occupation and curbing the power of Shi'ite majority rule -- one prominent Sunni on Friday said U.S. forces and the militants should agree a ceasefire during Ramadan, which started this week, as a prelude to direct talks.

"The fighting should stop," Saleh al-Mutlak, who represents the National Dialogue movement, told Reuters.

"We have fought for two-and-a-half years and the problem is it doesn't work," he said in an interview.

Mutlak's comments came as U.S. officials said the campaign near the Syrian border in western Iraq was scoring successes with about 1,000 troops fighting to shut what they say is a key route for arms and foreign extremist fighters into the country.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20051007/wl_nm/iraq_dc_50

[daleo]

1. He could say the same about a lot of U.S. troops

"Major General Stephen Johnson said that in the week-long operation, dubbed "Iron Fist," the militants his forces faced were mostly local people, not foreign Islamists.

"They are generally young people, 20 to 30 years old. They are day laborers, agricultural workers and there are a lot of unemployed," Johnson said, calling the Iraqi fighters "foot soldiers for extremists.""

[Disturbed]

2. It seerms that there is a movement in progress..

of Sunnis deciding to allign themselves with al Sadr and engage in non-violent political action and seperate themselves from the AQ. I feel that the Sunnis would be wise to go forward in the manner.

[daleo]

3. I don't really know how representative this fellow is

"The National Dialogue Movement", I think it was called. Maybe it is legit, maybe just propaganda. I doubt most Iraqi Sunnis really care for AQ, other than as a convenient agent of opposition, though.