British troops have held secret talks with Sunni rebels: Iraq president

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

LONDON (AFP) - British military officers in Iraq have been party to secret talks with Sunni insurgent leaders there, Iraq's president said in an interview published Tuesday.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph while in London, Jalal Talabani added that Sunni rebels were shifting their perceptions to view Shiite-dominated Iran as more of a threat than foreign forces.

"There are resistance movements that are now meeting with the prime minister, with me, with British military officers and the ambassador for reconciliation talks," Talabani told the paper.

"The biggest step forward would be to have the full participation of all the main groups in Iraq ... We need national unity. We must convince the Sunni Arabs they are a real partner."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070515/wl_uk_afp/iraqunrestdiplomacybritainiran

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Link to the telegraph story

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/15/wiraq15.xml

Sounds like a "unite the country by telling it there are external enemies" strategy - in this he's using Iran and al Qaeda as the enemies. Don't know it if would work though - would the Shia groups be very anti-Iran?

[bemildred]

2. Sounds like wishful thinking to me.

The Sunni may well fear the Shia, but they are not going to become our little buddies, or Mr. Talibani's, on that account.

[ohio2007]

3. Do whatever it takes to redeploy and decrease the footprint

give them back their country. Let them figure out the best way to preserve their unholy union that is divided by a common religion