Widening schism in Iraq between Sunni insurgents, Al Qaeda

A US official cited in the Times report said that it was unclear whether the people who met with Khalilzad were actually "influential" in the insurgent groups they claimed to represent, and because the Sunni insugency doesn't have a unified command they were "never able to find people who could reduce the violence." An Iraqi politician, former deputy prime minister Ahmad Chalabi, said the talks fizzled when insurgent representatives made "untenable demands" that included the reinstatement of the old Iraqi Army and the establishment of a new government.

Reuters reports that the purpose of such meetings was to "build an alliance against al Qaeda in Iraq." The Christian Science Monitor reported last December that US and Iraqi officials were meeting privately with insurgent representatives in Jordan, Baghdad, and Cyprus, although at the time no US officials would confirm those meetings. Even then, there was skepticism that the groups being courted were influential enough to make a difference.

"Maybe they are talking to small entities, and the reason for that is that the active resistance won't negotiate, because they want America to withdraw from Iraq," [Bashar al-Faili, a member of the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), a Sunni political group] argues. "This is a huge mistake - Americans have to be logical. They have to be realistic and to know one thing - that they are not going to stay in Iraq. That they are not going to have bases in Iraq."

However, Iraqi officials are still trying to reach out to disaffected Sunnis. The Los Angeles Times report says that the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government has proposed a trial cease-fire period with Sunni insurgent groups in western Baghdad in return for "a major reconstruction drive in battle-scarred Sunni areas." As early as 2005, Iraqi president Jalal Talabani had called for amnesty for insurgents who had fought US and Iraqi troops. And in what The Washington Post reports is another move intended to placate former Baath Party members, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and President Talabani on Monday announced new legislation to overturn some of the "de-Baathification" laws that had stripped former party members from their government jobs and led many to fight in the insurgency against the Iraqi government and US forces.

The draft, which was released by the U.S. Embassy early Tuesday, would let all but the three highest levels of Baathists return to their jobs, provided they had not been involved in criminal activity. All those who lost their jobs would collect a pension. It was unclear how many former Baathists would benefit from the legislation.

Sadiq al-Rikabi, Maliki's political adviser, said that the draft would probably go before parliament this week and that top officials would pressure lawmakers to pass it quickly.

Alaa Makki, a Sunni lawmaker who said he had not seen the draft, said he expected it to generate debate in parliament. But he said an agreement could "reactivate" a political process that has often been paralyzed by sectarian divisions.

"A lot of people really were wrongly punished," he said. "It will be a positive sign of political success if this law is passed and accepted. And many people will get to reconciliation."

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