Purported spokesman for an Iraqi insurgent group offers negotiations with the United States
The Associated Press
Published: October 5, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq A purported spokesman for a Sunni insurgent group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, offered to open negotiations with the Americans in an audiotape aired by Al-Jazeera television on Thursday.
The tape was said to be from Ibrahim al-Shimmari, whose name has appeared in past statements by the group, which has claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings against civilians and attacks on U.S. troops.
The tape's authenticity could not be independently confirmed.
"We are prepared for any negotiations, whether secret or public, on the condition only that they are sincere. We have no objection to mediators with international credentials, and it is possible to exchange letters," the speaker in the tape said.
Al-Shimmari has offered such negotiations in past statements. He did not elaborate on the goal of any talks.
The Islamic Army in Iraq is believed to include former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, his intelligence service and former army officers. It rejected a call from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier this year for insurgents to join the political process, saying it would not participate until there was a timetable for withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.
In sections of the tape not aired, the speaker on the tape said Iraq faces occupation by two powers — "the Crusader Americans and the Iranians ... and the latter is the more dangerous," Al-Jazeera reported.
He said his group was allied to former al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed June by a U.S. airstrike. But the speaker criticized al-Zarqawi, saying he "committed some mistakes," including the killing of four Russian embassy workers who were kidnapped, then slain in late June.
In contrast to the Islamic Army, al-Qaida in Iraq is believed largely made up of Arab Islamic militants, though the group has tried to ally itself with Iraqi insurgents.
The Associated Press
Published: October 5, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq A purported spokesman for a Sunni insurgent group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, offered to open negotiations with the Americans in an audiotape aired by Al-Jazeera television on Thursday.
The tape was said to be from Ibrahim al-Shimmari, whose name has appeared in past statements by the group, which has claimed responsibility for a number of suicide bombings against civilians and attacks on U.S. troops.
The tape's authenticity could not be independently confirmed.
"We are prepared for any negotiations, whether secret or public, on the condition only that they are sincere. We have no objection to mediators with international credentials, and it is possible to exchange letters," the speaker in the tape said.
Al-Shimmari has offered such negotiations in past statements. He did not elaborate on the goal of any talks.
The Islamic Army in Iraq is believed to include former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, his intelligence service and former army officers. It rejected a call from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier this year for insurgents to join the political process, saying it would not participate until there was a timetable for withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.
In sections of the tape not aired, the speaker on the tape said Iraq faces occupation by two powers — "the Crusader Americans and the Iranians ... and the latter is the more dangerous," Al-Jazeera reported.
He said his group was allied to former al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed June by a U.S. airstrike. But the speaker criticized al-Zarqawi, saying he "committed some mistakes," including the killing of four Russian embassy workers who were kidnapped, then slain in late June.
In contrast to the Islamic Army, al-Qaida in Iraq is believed largely made up of Arab Islamic militants, though the group has tried to ally itself with Iraqi insurgents.
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