GET OUT THE "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" BANNER:

Sunnis now want to join Iraq politics: Sunni leaders met last weekend to unite in their cause and negotiate with Shiites and Kurds. (Jill Carroll, 3/24/05, The Christian Science Monitor)

Two years after war dramatically changed Iraq's political landscape, the former ruling minority Sunnis are developing plans to participate in a government formed by elections they boycotted. [...]

The new effort, observers say, appears to be an admission that their strategy - to stop Iraq's election and denounce the formation of a new government - has failed. Bringing the former ruling class into Iraq's emerging power structure, they add, could help quell the insurgency. [...]

The significance of the conference was underscored by its attendees. Participants included members of the Muslim Scholars Association, a group of Sunni religious leaders, among them some of the most extreme figures who have influence with the insurgency.

Also present were leaders from cities in the "Sunni Triangle," including Mosul, Haditha, and Salam Pak, which is bubbling with insurgent activity. Representatives of Waqaf Sunna, the powerful administrating body of Sunni religious affairs, attended as well.

All of which goes to show that they don't listen to at least four groups of people: the Western Left, U.S. intelligence services, the MSM, and al Qaeda. If they did they'd think they were winning.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 23, 2005 6:50 PM