TIME: Talking with the
Enemy
Monday, February 28, 2005
Inside the secret dialogue between the U.S. and
insurgents in Iraq -- and what the rebels say they
want
By
MICHAEL WARE
A TIME EXCLUSIVE
The secret meeting is taking place in the bowels of a
facility in Baghdad, a cavernous, heavily guarded
building in the U.S.-controlled green zone. The Iraqi
negotiator, a middle-aged former member of Saddam
Hussein's regime and the senior representative of the
self-described nationalist insurgency, sits on one
side of the table. He is here to talk to two members
of the U.S. military. One of them, an officer, takes
notes during the meeting. The other, dressed in
civilian clothes, listens as the Iraqi outlines a
list of demands the U.S. must satisfy before the
insurgents stop fighting. The parties trade
boilerplate complaints: the U.S. officer presses the
Iraqi for names of other insurgent leaders; the Iraqi
says the newly elected Shi'a-dominated government is
being controlled by Iran. The discussion does not go
beyond generalities, but both sides know what's
behind the coded language.
The Iraqi's very presence conveys a message: Members
of the insurgency are open to negotiating an end to
their struggle with the U.S. "We are ready," he says
before leaving, "to work with you."
In that guarded pledge may lie the first sign that
after nearly two years of fighting, parts of the
insurgency in Iraq are prepared to talk and move
toward putting away their arms--and the U.S. is
willing to listen. An account of the secret meeting
between the senior insurgent negotiator and the U.S.
military officials was provided to TIME by the
insurgent negotiator. He says two such meetings have
taken place. While U.S. officials would not confirm
the details of any specific meetings, sources in
Washington told TIME that for the first time the U.S.
is in direct contact with members of the Sunni
insurgency, including former members of Saddam's
Baathist regime. Pentagon officials say the secret
contacts with insurgent leaders are being conducted
mainly by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers. A
Western observer close to the discussions says that
"there is no authorized dialogue with the insurgents"
but that the U.S. has joined "back-channel"
communications with rebels. Says the observer:
"There's a lot bubbling under the surface today."
Over the course of the war in Iraq, as the anti-U.S.
resistance has grown in size and intensity,
Administration officials have been steadfast in their
refusal to negotiate with enemy fighters. But in
recent months, the persistence of the fighting and
signs of division in the ranks of the insurgency have
prompted some U.S. officials to seek a political
solution. And Pentagon and intelligence officials
hope the high voter turnout in last month's election
will deflate the morale of the insurgents and
persuade more of them to come in from the cold.
Hard-line Islamist fighters like Abu Mousab
al-Zarqawi's al-Qaeda group will not compromise in
their campaign to create an Islamic state. But in
interviews with TIME, senior Iraqi insurgent
commanders said several "nationalist" rebel
groups--composed predominantly of ex-military
officers and what the Pentagon dubs "former regime
elements"--have moved toward a strategy of "fight and
negotiate." Although they have no immediate plans to
halt attacks on U.S. troops, they say their aim is to
establish a political identity that can represent
disenfranchised Sunnis and eventually negotiate an
end to the U.S. military's offensive in the Sunni
triangle. Their model is Sinn Fein, the political
wing of the Irish Republican Army, which ultimately
earned the I.R.A. a role in the Northern Ireland
peace process. "That's what we're working for, to
have a political face appear from the battlefield, to
unify the groups, to resist the aggressor and put our
views to the people," says a battle commander in the
upper tiers of the insurgency who asked to be
identified by his nom de guerre, Abu Marwan. Another
negotiator, called Abu Mohammed, told TIME, "Despite
what has happened, the possibility for negotiation is
still open."
But can such talks succeed? A senior official in the
U.S. embassy in Baghdad says the nationalist
insurgents "want to cut a deal, thinking we get ours
and they get theirs." Any deal with the insurgents
would be up to the new government, but embassy
officials say they believe that reaching an accord
should be the new government's top priority. Behind
the scenes, the U.S. is encouraging Sunni leaders and
the insurgents to talk with the government. A tougher
job may be to convince the leaders of political
parties about to assume power--many of whom were
brutalized by Baathists now coordinating the
insurgency--that it's in their interests to reach a
peaceful settlement with their former tormentors. In
the U.S. command, there is increasing skepticism that
the insurgency can be defeated through military might
alone. Says a senior U.S. officer: "The Iraqis are
the solution to the insurgency, and they are the
solution to our departure."
Insurgent sources say both sides have been feeling
each other out for months. Some of the earliest
advances were made last year through Jordanian
intelligence officers, but insurgents balked at the
idea of meeting in Jordan. U.S. diplomats also
initiated contact with conservative Sunnis known to
have influence with the insurgents, such as Harith
al-Dhari, the head of the Association of Muslim
Scholars. Insurgent sources say that last summer a
loose amalgam of nationalist groups--Mohammed's Army,
al-Nasser al-Saladin, the 1920 Revolution Brigades
and perhaps even the Islamic Army of Iraq--met to
discuss forging a common political platform.
Meanwhile, some Americans showed openness to a
dialogue. In meetings with Sunni tribal leaders,
Lieut. Colonel Rick Welch, the senior
special-operations civil-military affairs adviser to
the commanding general of the 1st Cavalry Division in
Baghdad, put word out that the military was willing
to talk to hard-liners about their grievances and
that, as Welch says, "the door is not closed, except
for some very top regime guys." Welch, a reservist
and prosecutor from Morgan County, Ohio, told TIME,
"I don't meet all the insurgent leaders, but I've met
some of them." Although not an authorized negotiator,
Welch has become a back channel in the nascent U.S.
dialogue with the insurgents. Insurgent negotiators
confirm to TIME that they have met with Welch.
What do the insurgents want? Top insurgent field
commanders and negotiators informed TIME that the
rebels have told diplomats and military officers that
they support a secular democracy in Iraq but resent
the prospect of a government run by exiles who fled
to Iran and the West during Saddam's regime. The
insurgents also seek a guaranteed timetable for U.S.
troop withdrawal, a demand the U.S. refuses. But
there are some hints of compromise: insurgent
negotiators have told their U.S. counterparts they
would accept a U.N. peacekeeping force as the U.S.
troop presence recedes. Insurgent representative Abu
Mohammed says the nationalists would even tolerate
U.S. bases on Iraqi soil. "We don't mind if the
invader becomes a guest," he says, suggesting a
situation akin to the U.S. military presence in
Germany and Japan.
As promising as such proffers might sound, it's far
too early for optimism. The new U.S. policy of
engagement is aimed at driving a wedge between
nationalist insurgents and the jihadists. But
al-Zarqawi and his allies have silenced nationalists
by threatening to kill them if they negotiate. The
Western observer close to the discussions says,
"Al-Zarqawi keeps pulling the process away from
'fight and negotiate' to 'pure mayhem.'"
The engagement strategy faces another obstacle: the
new Iraqi government. Leaders of the victorious
political parties say they have no interest in
continuing dialogue with the insurgents. "The voters
gave us a mandate to attack these insurgents, not
negotiate with them," says Humam Bakr Hammoudi, a
political strategist for the dominant SCIRI party.
U.S. negotiators say they believe the new government
will eventually realize that only a political
settlement will subdue the insurgency--which may soon
direct its wrath at the new Iraqi rulers if it
believes its interests are being ignored. While some
in the Bush Administration might find the idea of
backing an accord with archenemy Baathists
distasteful, the Western observer says, "I think
you've got a pretty flexible [U.S.] government." Now
it's up to the others to follow.
--With
reporting by Aparisim Ghosh/Baghdad and Douglas
Waller/Washington