By Ibon Villelabeitia
Reuters, 26 June 2006
BAGHDAD, June 26 (Reuters) - A Sunni leader in Iraq said on Monday that the insurgency would persist until Washington sets a timetable to withdraw its troops and that loyalists to ousted leader Saddam Hussein should be included in peace talks.
Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's national reconciliation plan, unveiled on Sunday, fell well short of its goals to defuse the Sunni Arab insurgency and heal Iraq's sectarian wounds.
"The project is vague. There is no time schedule to implement it. There are loose ends that have to be fastened," said Hashemi, a leader of the Sunni minority group, dominant under Saddam and now the backbone of the insurgency.
In an interview, Hashemi also said Maliki will have to talk to insurgents he has so far spurned if he wants to deliver on promises to reconcile Iraq's divided communities.
"You have to talk to Saddam Hussein loyalists and the Baathists. Everybody who wants to participate in the process should be welcomed. You need to bring people from outside. Otherwise you are only talking with those who are inside."
Following tough negotiations among his fractious ruling coalition, Maliki unveiled a plan that offered an olive branch to rebel groups. But Maliki insisted he would not negotiate with Saddam's followers nor al Qaeda.
Hashemi agreed there could be no talks with al Qaeda. But said Maliki, a Shi'ite, needs to talk to "resistance" groups such as the Islamic Army and the 1920 Revolution Brigades, made up by former officers of Saddam, who persecuted Shi'ites.
Saddam loyalists are believed to lead the insurgency.
NO TIMETABLE, NO PEACE
Hashemi said failing to set a timetable for a withdrawal of U.S.-led forces encourages insurgents to "liberate Iraq" from occupiers.
Maliki did not set a timetable in his plan. Washington and London have said withdrawing troops is conditional on Iraqi forces being capable of taking over.
"Leaving the issue of a timetable vague is a way of telling the resistance: 'Continue your fighting to liberate Iraq. They are not going to leave the country'," he said.
The inclusion of Hashemi, who heads the largest Sunni party, and other Sunnis in Maliki's unity government was seen as a sign that the disaffected community was joining the political process, a key step in weakening support for the insurgency.
But Hashemi said Maliki's plan also failed to offer details on how he would dismantle Shi'ite militias accused of abducting and killing Sunnis.
"We promised our people that things would improve with the national government but we haven't seen any progress in the security file."
He praised Maliki's promise to review laws barring members of Saddam's Baath party from public office and the military, saying the U.S.-sponsored law had worsened sectarian relations.
"We should have a new chapter, a new Iraq for Iraqis."
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Citation: Ibon Villelabeitia. "Iraq reconciliation plan falls short of Sunni hopes," Reuters, 26 June 2006.
Original URL: http://www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/thenews/newsdesk/GEO648277.htm
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