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Cease-fire eyed to stop violence in Iraq 
U.S. military commanders talking with Iraqi militants

U.S. military commanders are talking with Iraqi militants about cease- fires and other arrangements to try to stop the violence, the No. 2 American commander said Thursday.

And he suggested he might not be able to strictly meet the September deadline for telling Congress whether President Bush's military build up in Iraq is working.

Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said commanders at all levels are being empowered to reach out for talks with militants, tribes, religious leaders and others in the country that has been gripped by violence on a range of fronts including insurgents, sectarian rivals and common criminals.

"It's just beginning, so we have a lot of work to do in this," he said. "But we have restructured ourselves ... to work this issue."

He said he thinks 80 percent of Iraqis—including Sunni insurgents and Shia militants—can reach reconciliation with each other, though most al-Qaida operatives won't.

"We are talking about cease-fires, and maybe signing some things that say they won't conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces.," Odierno told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Baghdad.

On the assessment of operations that is due in September, he said he thinks it will take longer to tell whether the increase of nearly 30,000 troops will work as intended—that is, to quell violence enough to give Iraqi officials breathing space to work on reconciliation and development issues.

"The way I understand it, is we're going to be required to provide an assessment in September. So I will provide my assessment," Odierno said, adding it might not be complete.

He said he will be able to assess the work of forces that arrived for the beginning of the build up in February, but that the ones just arrived this week won't be in place for a couple of weeks—meaning it will be August before he might be able to tell how they're doing.

"So that'll be the first time I'll be able to make a real initial assessment of the true affect of the surge," he said. "The assessment might be 'I need a little more time. ' The assessment might be, 'I've seen enough, and it's effective or I've seen enough, and it's not going to be effective.'

"Right now if you asked me, I would tell you I'll probably need a little bit more time to do a true assessment," he said.

"If I think I might need a little bit more time, I will give an assessment saying, 'But I'd like to have more time'," Odierno said.

He said the increased effort by commanders to reach out to militants goes hand in hand with reconciliation efforts by the Iraqi government.

Odierno noted that efforts to engage tribal leaders in Anbar province—who have been turning against al-Qaida there—has helped draw people to serve in the Iraqi security forces in record numbers and has helped reduce attacks there.

For example, the attacks in Anbar in May 2006 totaled 811, while this May they were just barely over 400, Odierno said. Since the beginning of 2007, over 12,000 Iraqi citizens have volunteered for Iraqi security forces in Anbar. In all of 2006, only 1,000 had volunteered.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other leaders are under increasing pressure from Washington to do more to achieve reconciliation among factions because, officials argue, no amount of military force can bring peace to the country without political peace.

Al-Maliki announced a national reconciliation proposal nearly a year ago that has made limited progress. It offered some amnesty to members of the Sunni-led insurgency and a change in a law that had removed senior members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from their jobs.

"I believe there are elements that are irreconcilable, but I believe the large majority are," Odierno said. "I believe about 80 percent are reconcilable, both Jaish al-Mahdi as well as Sunni insurgents," though very few of al-Qaida.

"There will be always people that are irreconcilable and ... the Iraqi government, with our support, will have to continue to conduct operations against those forces," he said.

"Prime Minister Maliki and the government of Iraq have to continue to reach out to all these groups ... bringing these groups into the political process so we can deal with their differences in a peaceful way instead of in violent ways,:" Odierno said.

Ok so the big question here is what makes them think they can negotiate with these folks and expect them to keep their word?

uhh .. because they are a religion of peace and honesty??


 ;D ;D

This is the answer to that question, Brother Jerry.


Terrorists see ceasefire talk
signaling U.S. defeat in Iraq 
Militant leaders say Washington's attempt
to make deal legitimizes violent 'resistance'

Washington's announcement of talks with Iraqi militants about a cease-fire arrangement is a "big victory" for the insurgency and demonstrates the U.S. now recognizes the legitimacy of so-called terror groups, Palestinian terrorist leaders told WND.

In a briefing with reporters earlier today, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno said U.S. commanders at all levels are being empowered to reach out for talks with militants, tribes, religious leaders and others, including insurgents and sectarian rivals.

"We are talking about cease-fires, and maybe signing some things that say they won't conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces," Odierno told reporters in a video conference from Baghdad.

Reacting to Odierno's announcement, Muhammad Abdel-El, spokesman and a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees terror group, called truce talks with insurgents "a big victory for the resistance."

"Americans are recognizing the resistance, the same resistance that they before called terrorism; now they are dealing with them, and this is the recognition of Iraqi resistance and recognition by the Americans of their own loss in Iraq," said Abdel-El.

The Popular Resistance Committees operates from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where it is responsible for scores of shootings, rocket attacks and suicide bombings. It was one of three groups that claimed responsibility for the kidnapping last June of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and is blamed for car bombing a U.S. convoy in Gaza in 2003, killing three American service contractors.

"This [talk of a cease fire] is a great achievement for the resistance in Iraq and this achievement will be complimented by more and more dead American soldiers they will carry in coffins to the U.S.," Abdel-El said.

Abu Nasser Aziz, the deputy commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern West Bank, told WND talks with Iraqi militants "shows America is recognizing its failure in Iraq and that the invasion of Iraq was judged by Allah to be a failure. This is a great victory for the resistance."

Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades took responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel the past two years.

Abu Abdullah, a leader of Hamas' so-called military wing in the Gaza Strip, said the negotiation of a cease-fire in Iraq "is proof that Iraq will be the end of America."

"The Americans didn't achieve anything with this invasion but to bring about their downfall."

Abu Abdullah said he suspects violence in Iraq will continue regardless of a cease-fire.

"Of course the resistance will continue," he said.

Earlier today, Odierno said he believed an agreement could be reached with Iraqi elements, including insurgents.

"I believe there are elements that are irreconcilable, but I believe the large majority are," Odierno said. "I believe about 80 percent are reconcilable, both Jaish al-Mahdi as well as Sunni insurgents.

"Prime Minister Maliki and the government of Iraq have to continue to reach out to all these groups ... bringing these groups into the political process so we can deal with their differences in a peaceful way instead of in violent ways," Odierno said.

Yeah I love the useless mentality.

Nothing about the innocent civilians...you cannot conduct operations against the government or the coalition forces but you can blow up more buses, schools, hospitals, and other places that have a big amount of people trying to live their lives.

If you ask me I would have said to stop operations against the government and civilians.  Pushed them into targetting our military and the coalition forces that were there.  Better to have them fighting our troops than to leave them alone and target civilians.

But then after a while the civilians are going to get real sick of it and maybe finally fight back...but then it still looks bad for us to leave them hanging in the wind as bait.

If you know that what you are about to do will do nothing to stop it...why are we wasting time doing it?

One could argue that if we got them down at the table and they agreed to do something and then go back on their word then it is egg in their face.  But if everyone knows before hand that they have no intention of keeping their word then it is egg on our face for even trying.

This has already happened in one neighborhood there so far. One group of Iraqi citizens took out a bunch of Al Queada terrorists for being in their neighborhood taking potshots at them and our troops.