Insurgents seek exit strategy...

Good news finally.

Now if only Zarqawi and his idiot gang of terrorists will take note. Fighting against freedom isn't the answer. People want peace and order, not the disorder he's trying to bring.


news.ft.com...

Iraq's insurgents ‘seek exit strategy'
By Steve Negus in Baghdad
Published: March 25 2005 16:55 | Last updated: March 25 2005 16:55

Iraq flagMany of Iraq's predominantly Sunni Arab insurgents would lay down their arms and join the political process in exchange for guarantees of their safety and that of their co-religionists, according to a prominent Sunni politician.

Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who heads Iraq's main monarchist movement and is in contact with guerrilla leaders, said many insurgents including former officials of the ruling Ba'ath party, army officers, and Islamists have been searching for a way to end their campaign against US troops and Iraqi government forces since the January 30 election.

“Firstly, they want to ensure their own security,” says Sharif Ali, who last week hosted a pan-Sunni conference attended by tribal sheikhs and other local leaders speaking on behalf of the insurgents.

Insurgent leaders fear coming out into the open to talk for fear of being targeted by US military or Iraqi security forces' raids, he said.

Sharif Ali distinguishes many Sunni insurgents, whom he says took up arms in reaction to the invasive raids in search of Ba'athist leaders and other “humiliations” soon after the 2003 war, from the radical jihadist branch associated with Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

Unlike Mr Zarqawi's followers, who are thought to be responsible for the big suicide bomb attacks on Iraqi civilian targets, the other Sunni insurgents are more likely to plant bombs and carry out ambushes against security forces and US troops active near their homes.

Sharif Ali said the success of Iraq's elections dealt the insurgents a demoralising blow, prompting them to consider the need to enter the political process.

Looks like the bulk of the resistance is going to make a decision based on their constitutional protections.

So this works out nicely. IF iraq becomes an open liberal democratic society, they will join it, if not, if it becomes a state where they are oppressed by the tyranny of the majority and the rights aren't respected, they'll continue to fight.

Hmm. The ones that are stating this, history will recognize them as the legitimate resistance, while the foreign jihadis and zarqawi people will be seen as terrorists and thugs.

If it happens, this will certainly be a good thing.
I hope we will see some factions of the Iraqi resistance try to shift their efforts away from violence into the political arena.

But while I'm sure it will cut back on the ambush/IDE attacks against US troops, I am not sure the mass casualty attacks against Iraqis and the beheadings and the like will stop, I think they are the work of fanatical elements that will be less likely to enter into any cease-fire.

Have them show their sincerity by turning over Zarqawi to us. Then we'll talk.

They'll chill on the insurgency when the US aggrees to a quick timetable for ending the occupation, and when the US is out they will take over most of central Iraq, leaving alSadr to take the shiite areas..

They're obviously not ending the insurgency they just wasted another 3US soldiers and 17 Iraqi ones and blew another pipline-today

I thought there exit strategy was to blow themselves up ? Or do the ringleaders not believe in paradise afterwards ?

I think they start to fear the sji'ite influence more than the american presence...


[edit on 27-3-2005 by Silenus]