Not good news for the "surge" and the chances of "success"

Interview - Iraqi politican says insurgents must unite

By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN, April 17 (Reuters) - Insurgent groups in Iraq should unite, agree a programme and be ready to reap the political rewards for inflicting heavy losses on U.S. troops, an Iraqi Sunni politician said on Tuesday.

Saleh al-Mutlaq, whose National Dialogue group is a leading Sunni party represented in parliament, said the groups should be ready to fill the "the void" with a blueprint for a "liberated Iraq" if the U.S. plan to stem violence in Iraq fails and troops abruptly leave the country.

"It's now the right time for the national resistance groups to unite its negotiating stance towards the occupation forces and to draft a political programme for the future," Mutlaq said.

"The political programme will fill the vacuum in the event of an abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Iraq," said Mutlaq, who denies ties with insurgents but says he shares their goal of "liberating Iraq from foreign occupation."

Iraqi sources close to groups that form the backbone of the Sunni-based insurgency say initial discussions have already begun on a broad "political programme for the resistance".

This would pre-empt a bloody power struggle emerging by insurgent groups now taking heart that mounting domestic pressure on U.S. President George W. Bush to set a timetable for a pullout could bring an end to the U.S presence within sight.

"This will prevent infighting that would risk the gains of the nationalist resistance whose sacrifices defeated America's project in Iraq and the Middle East," he said.

The U.S. administration says troops can only leave when Iraq has stabilised or U.S. national security will be in jeopardy.

The prominent Sunni politician said Washington should engage in serious discussions with mainstream insurgent groups if it really sought a stable post-war order.

"It's now opportune for the United States to start quickly to negotiate with these insurgent groups," Mutlaq added, referring to a U.S. backed political process that many Sunnis say marginalised them by giving Shi'ite parties excessive power.

"The political process will not succeed as long as there are arms carried by the resistance," he said.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have repeatedly said they were in contact with representatives of some Sunni insurgent groups but mainstream Iraqi insurgents say this was a smokescreen for a campaign to sow division within their ranks.

They say the American military holds talks with Sunni tribesmen shunned as collaborators and who do not enjoy any influence with them.

Original article posted here.