DESURGENT:

Iraqi Officials to Meet With Rebels to Discuss Political Role (EDWARD WONG, 11/25/04, NY Times)

The Iraqi foreign minister said today that the interim Iraqi government planned to meet soon in Jordan with leaders of the insurgency to try to persuade them to take part in legitimate politics here.

The remarks by the minister, Hoshyar Zebari, signal the first time the government has agreed to an official meeting with rebel leaders. Mr. Zebari did not did not give a date for the meeting or specify which rebel leaders might attend. He said Iraqi officials agreed to the meeting, which would take place in Amman, Jordan, after being asked by various diplomats at a conference in Egypt to open a dialogue with the resistance.

"The aim is really to reach out to as many people as possible both inside and outside" of Iraq, Mr. Zebari said at a news conference this afternoon in the foreign ministry here.

The government welcomes "the broader participation of Iraqis, even those who are oppositionists, in this process" of politics "if they renounce violence and terror," he said.

The rebel leaders who will be invited will be "some people who are of political and tribal backgrounds," he said, declining to elaborate further. American and Iraqi officials say much of the insurgency is being financed by wealthy loyalists to Saddam Hussein who fled to bordering countries in the run-up to the American invasion in March 2003. Many are believed to be operating from Syria and Jordan, helping to organize the insurgency from there and funneling millions of dollars to the rebels.

That apocalyptic final battle in Fallujah having not worked out so well....

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 25, 2004 07:34 PM