US contradictory statements on negotiations with gunmen in Iraq; Blair supports negotiations

Statements by US military officials over negotiations with armed groups in Iraq were contradictory, at a time when the scale of confrontations on the ground was escalating and gunmen intensified their attacks.

Gen. George Casey, the commander of the American forces in Iraq, denied holding talks with armed groups noting that this might happen soon. This, however, is in clear contradiction with the recognition made by the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld of convening these talks and describing them as ongoing.

Casey said that the most important thing, the American forces want to do is to meet with the Sunni leaders, considering that those leaders have great influence on the rebels.

Meantime, the British prime minister stressed the participation of British officials in a dialogue with groups said to be supporting violence in Iraq in order to integrate them in the political process. However, Blair denied in a press conference held in London with his Iraqi peer Ibrahim al-Jaafari that these negotiations had included the armed groups which affiliate to the leader of al-Qaida organization in Mesopotamia Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He announced that defeating what he called terrorism in Iraq will be a defeat for terrorism everywhere.

On the other hand, the Iraqi Islamic Army denied participation in dialogue with the Americans, and Abu Mudab al-Zaeqawi group warned against what it called "tricks." In New York, the UN secretary general Kofi Annan supported dialogue with the gunmen in Iraq as an important step to find out a political solution for the crisis. Annan said that reconciliation is an integral part of the process of building a stable democracy in Iraq.