Senior Minister: Iraq government, insurgent groups in talks for past 3 months

BAGHDAD: After several months of secret negotiations, the government and Sunni Arab insurgent groups are deadlocked over the lack of a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, a senior government official said Thursday.

Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi, of the Ministry of National Dialogue and Reconciliation, said the talks have been taking place inside and outside Iraq over the past three months and involved five or six insurgent groups.

He did not identify them, saying only that they excluded al-Qaida in Iraq and Saddam Hussein loyalists. Senior members of Saddam's outlawed Baath party, however, took part.

Speaking to The Associated Press, al-Muttalibi said the talks, which he described as "very delicate," were initiated at the request of the insurgents and conducted through mediators.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

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