We Mostly Don’t Negotiate with Terrorists, Mostly
Sunday, June 26, 2005
(SNN London) Today, the Times of London printed an article giving detailed information about a secret meeting between the US military and Iraqi Insurgency leaders. The meeting supposedly took weeks to arrange and produced little results. This comes just a few days after General John Abizaid, the regional US commander suggested that the only way to win in Iraq was to involve the Sunni in the governing process.
Initial talks were on June 3rd and there was a follow-up meeting 10 days later
The initial talks were on June 3rd and there was a follow-up meeting 10 days later, on or around June 13th. Many leaders of the Insurgency were present, but the boogeyman of Al Quaeda, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, blamed for many suicide bombings and beheadings, was not in attendance.
Things started out badly. Insurgency negotiators accused the U.S. representatives of trying to clumsily collect intelligence, as they asked some detailed questions about the hierarchy of the insurgency, the key members and strategists and when and where they might all be together within the blast radius of a cruise missile.
Insurgency negotiators accused the U.S. representatives of trying to clumsily collect intelligence
But the U.S. found no joy from the insurgents. The insurgents were firm with one demand. They demanded the United States set up a clear timetable for withdrawal of all forces from Iraq. Also, insurgency leaders flatly turned down all offers of therapeutic understanding.
It is clear that both sides of this conflict seem to be very determined to carry out two extremely incompatible missions. The question must be asked, why did the Administration compromise our policy on negotiations with terrorists? And if they were not prepared to compromise, what could they possibly have hoped to gain from this encounter?
The demands of the insurgents were surprisingly similar to a bill brought in front of the House of Representatives last week. The Representatives who presented the bill Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Walter Jones (R-North Carolina), Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) will be held in detention until it can be determined how long they have been working with the insurgency.
How do the neocons get away with this stuff?
For nearly a decade Reagan armed, funded, supported and allied with bin laden and Saddam. And somehow Clinton gets all the blame for not stopping either.
Why can't we talk about Reagan, truthfully?
