Talks with radicals called key to ending violence

San Francisco Chronicle by Robert Collier | Jan. 7, 2007 (News Report)

U.S. must negotiate with insurgents and militias, experts say

As President Bush prepares this week to announce a new plan for the war in Iraq, doubts are growing in Baghdad and among some international analysts over whether U.S. attempts to reconcile Iraq's warring factions are excluding the very people who need reconciling -- the Sunni-led insurgents and their archenemies, the Shiite militias. Full Story »

Posted by Marty Heyman

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by Jim Lang - Oct. 1, 2008

This is a very good story. It is a well sourced and informative report on the views of insurgent leaders and some outside observers that the key to ending the violence in Iraq must be a non-US brokered negotiation involving the various insurgent elements rather than a bolstering of the positions of moderates. However, the interviews indicate, and the reporter observes, that it is hard to find common ground among the insurgents other than their strong desire to eliminate the US occupation of Iraq.