Robert Fisk:Iraqi insurgents offer peace in return for US concessions

[cal04]

For the first time, Sunni insurgents disclose their conditions for ceasefire in Iraq

For the first time, one of Iraq's principal insurgent groups has set out the terms of a ceasefire that would allow American and British forces to leave the country they invaded almost four years ago.

The present terms would be impossible for any US administration to meet - but the words of Abu Salih Al-Jeelani, one of the military leaders of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement show that the groups which have taken more than 3,000 American lives are actively discussing the opening of contacts with the occupation army.

Al-Jeelani's group, which also calls itself the "20th Revolution Brigades'', is the military wing of the original insurgent organisation that began its fierce attacks on US forces shortly after the invasion of 2003. The statement is, therefore, of potentially great importance, although it clearly represents only the views of Sunni Muslim fighters.

Shia militias are nowhere mentioned. The demands include the cancellation of the entire Iraqi constitution - almost certainly because the document, in effect, awards oil-bearing areas of Iraq to Shia and Kurds, but not to the minority Sunni community. Yet the Sunnis remain Washington's principal enemies in the Iraqi war.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2251354.ece

[Turbineguy]

1. It sounds like they are in perfect sync

with King George. Offer something they can't possibly accept.

[maxsolomon]

2. open talks

hyperbole is a ME tradition.

[IndyOp]

3. K&R - The ways out are all around us... (n/t)

[Eugene]

4. They're not asking for much, are they?

Their demands are impossible but if the Sunni insurgents seriously want to talk,
this is an opportunity. It would be criminally negligent to dismiss it.