Reuters now reporting Iraqi PM to present reconciliation plan to Assembly

Iraq PM to Present Reconciliation Plan to Assembly

By REUTERS
Published: June 24, 2006

Filed at 8:07 a.m. ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki was expected to present a national reconciliation plan to parliament on Sunday aimed at defusing the Sunni insurgency and tackling sectarian violence, political sources said.

The plan, which could be Maliki's boldest political move yet, sets out to remove powerful militias from the streets, open a dialogue with rebels and review the status of purged members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party.

Political sources said a key element of the 28-point blueprint would be to draw rebel groups into the process of implementing hoped-for agreements on such questions as defining ''terrorism.''

One important question will be how far Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist who took office on May 20, would be willing to go to bring Sunni Muslim insurgents to the negotiating table.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iraq.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-2239088,00.html

But one big potential obstacle is whether the US would be willing to grant an amnesty to insurgents who have killed US soldiers but who are not members of extreme groups such as al-Qaeda. The Bush Administration is thought to be split on the issue.

“This is very hard for us, particularly at a time when American servicemen are facing prosecution for alleged war crimes — and others are being captured and tortured,” a senior US official said.

With 2,500 US soldiers having died in Iraq, to grant an amnesty would be a “huge political football” before the November mid-term elections in the US,he said. But he added: “This is what we did after the Second World War, after the Civil War, after the War of Independence. It may be unpalatable and unsavoury but it is how wars end.”

The Government intends to form a committee to distinguish between groups that can be considered legitimate resistance and those that are beyond the pale. “For those that defended their country against foreign troops, we need to open a new page . . . They did not mean to destabilise Iraq. They were defending Iraqi soil,” said Adnan Ali, a senior member of the Dawa party of Nouri alMaliki, the Prime Minister.