Thursday, June 22, 2006

Iraq: Could the end be near?

In the offing is a deal the Iraqi government is making to insurgent groups. Give up the fighting and we'll give you amnesty and send Americans home. Talks with the insurgent groups have been going on for a while now and Talabani said there are signs they'd be willing to reach a deal.

The Timesonline has more details:

The 28-point package for national reconciliation will offer Iraqi resistance groups inclusion in the political process and an amnesty for their prisoners if they renounce violence and lay down their arms, The Times can reveal.

The Government will promise a finite, UN-approved timeline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Iraq; a halt to US operations against insurgent strongholds; an end to human rights violations, including those by coalition troops; and compensation for victims of attacks by terrorists or Iraqi and coalition forces.

It will pledge to take action against Shia militias and death squads. It will also offer to review the process of “de-Baathification” and financial compensation for the thousands of Sunnis who were purged from senior jobs in the Armed Forces and Civil Service after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The deal, which has been seen by The Times, aims to divide Iraqi insurgents from foreign fighters linked to al-Qaeda. It builds on months of secret talks involving Jalal al-Talabani, the Iraqi President, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador, and seven Sunni insurgent groups.


The death of Zarqawi and the further decimation of al Qaeda in Iraq looms large here. The Iraqi forces will have their hands full with the Shia militias and death squads and the remaining foreign fighters, but if the seven main insurgent groups stop fighting I'm sure the Iraqis can handle the job.

The amnesty part will be hard to accept, but if it ends the war then so be it.

Captain's Quarters has some analysis. I pretty much agree.

Will the offer be accepted? What will the next six months look like? I'm up for it.

As for political considerations inside America, I don't really care what this means. All I want is a stable Iraq with a strong yet democratic government that can protect its people and infrastructure and that allows the Iraqi people to just...live their lives.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't think there can be amnesty for AlQaida, but there has to come a time when people lay down their arms..if that country is to survive.

At the end of WW2 we did not lock up every Nazi or German soldier and for that matter we let the Emporer survive in Japan even though there were Americans who wanted him punished.

At the end of the Civil War a decision was made to give amnesty to Confederates so that they would not be turned into bushwackers.

I doubt there is anyway we will ever be able to know much less punish everyone who has been involved in attacks on troops and the Iraqi security forces and if the Iraqis are willing to forgive [or at least stop killing] each other then perhaps we should do some of the same.

But not AlQaida.

Besides sooner or later the Democrats might win one of their Resolutions in which case we have to leave Iraq anyway, so I would prefer we did it in a way and at a time that the country had some hope for stability.

Syl said...

Terrye

The Iraqis have NO intention of forgiving al Qaeda for anything. They are not part of the proposed amnesty.

vnjagvet said...

As is often the case, I agree with Terrye.

This sounds typical as an end game for this type of conflict.

Members of Al Quaeda are in a different category because of their foreign (to Iraq) leadership and practice of random murder of fellow citizens to advance their causes.

The category they are in is "war criminal". And that, apparently, is how they are being treated.

If this works, it solves many problems.

Rick Ballard said...

We must remember this profer of amnesty when those that refuse it are exterminated. They were given a chance to quit and live - they will die by their own choice.