Washington negotiates with gunmen in Iraq

Western diplomats in Baghdad and Amman disclosed that American officials met face to face with leaders of armed groups in Iraq, but without getting any commitment from them to give up their weapons.

News reports quoted the sources as saying that the negotiations which were described as preliminary were held in Anbar governorate and in Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates and might be transferred to Egypt in a coming phase, noting that the US kept away members of al-Qaida organization in Iraq and groups linked to it in these negotiations.

While no confirmation was given by the American officials in Iraq of this news, the spokesman for the American army in Iraq major Bary Johnson said that the US has been in talks with the Iraqi groups in order to enhance the political operation in this country, referring not if the gunmen are included or not.

However, one western diplomat in Baghdad indicated that Washington is negotiating with what he described as the Sunni leaderships of national inclination, and Sunni and Shiite Islamists.