Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Media: The Associated Press
Byline: n/a
Date: 05 October 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.
Byline: n/a
Date: 05 October 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.