BAGHDAD (AFP) -Iraq's government stands ready to "help" insurgents wanting to lay down their weapons, a top government official said in the latest bid to encourage political reconciliation in the war-torn country.
"We are not bent on revenge. We will help any party wishing to disarm," Vice President Adel Abdel Mehhi told reporters.
On the other hand, "the government will strike back forcefully against all acts of violence and terrorism", he warned Tuesday.
The Shiite leader did not elaborate on the government's offer, but his comments came just two days after President Jalal Talabani said he was prepared to hold talks with insurgents.
"To those who took up arms to end the occupation, we say that the solution will not come through weapons but through political dialogue and democratic means," Talabani said in Cairo where he attended an Arab League-sponsored meeting of Iraq's rival factions.
Can we dare to believe these guys are standing up and taking charge of their own country?
This is incredible news. And still next to nothing about it in on the cable channels.
And no comments yet from the administration.
Do you think they had to call the paramedics to revive Dick Cheney?
These guys have pulled an indictment of Padilla out of the closet where they must have been keeping it until they really needed it.
ReplyDeleteThis is reality creeping into their illusionary world and they are going to do everything they can to bury this in one news cycle.
The Iraqi request for a timetable(endorsement of Murtha) was on the CNN website earlier but was missing last time I checked.
Elephant? What elephant?
Monk,
ReplyDeleteThat's one of my hypotheses too. But I keep coming back to "Could this really have caught them by surprise?"
I'm going to do some surfing and see what else I come up with.
The administration doesn't want to see it, because it doesn't fit in with their plan for the nation. They have said repeatedly that they don't want us to leave until the Iraqis can take care of themselves, to which they have added repeatedly that the Iraqis cannot yet take care of themselves. What will happen if the Iraqis ask us to leave before they are ready? Do you think that the administration wants to deal with that possibility? (and by "possibility" I mean "eventuality")
ReplyDeleteScott and Sadig:
ReplyDeleteNo real way of telling. I strongly suspect much is going on behind closed doors that we don't know about.