Posted on 09/03/2007 11:03:37 PM PDT by George - the Other
Iraqis agree on secret peace plan:
Iraqi Sunni and Shia representatives have agreed on a peace plan during secret talks in Finland.
"Participants committed themselves to work towards a robust framework for a lasting settlement," said a statement issued on Monday by the Crisis Management Initiative, a conflict-prevention group that organised the meeting.
In an agreement released by CMI, the participants "agreed to consult further" on a list of recommendations to begin reconciliation talks, including resolving political disputes through non-violence and democracy.
The recommendations also included the disarming of factions and forming an independent commission to supervise the disarming "in a verifiable manner."
The four-day meeting which ended on Monday brought together 16 delegates from the feuding groups to study lessons learnt from successful peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland.
Key participants:
Among those reportedly at the talks were representatives of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr; Adnan al-Dulaimi, a leader of the largest Sunni Arab political group; and Humam Hammoudi, the Shia chairman of the Iraqi parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Jeffrey Donaldson, a Northern Ireland legislator, said the "road map" to Iraqi peace included key principles of the British territory's own peace process.
Donaldson and British government officials confirmed that the Northern Ireland delegation included Martin McGuinness, the veteran Irish Republican Army commander now the senior Catholic in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.
South Africa was represented by members of Nelson Mandela's first unity government following the end of apartheid, African National Congress activist Mac Maharaj and National party reformer Roelf Meyer.
Political objectives agreed to include moving away from sectarian and ethnic disputes, ending the displacement of Iraqi refugees, and terminating the presence of foreign troops according to a "realistic timetable".
The participants also agreed to deal with militias by arming and training security forces to become "an effective national force", while fostering economic development across the country.
Members of armed groups that "are not classified as terrorist" would be encouraged to adopt "peaceful political means" and given jobs within the state administration.
CMI, overseen by Martti Ahtisaari, the former Finnish president, has facilitated peace talks for other conflicts.
In 2005, Ahtisaari helped end 30 years of fighting between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government with peace talks in Finland which he initiated and mediated in.
Can’t we get a better source for breaking news than Al Jazeera?
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ncl=1120152324
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/04/europe/EU-GEN-Finland-Iraq-Talks.php
Yes! Please repost this and don’t even MENTION Al’s name! Most people pass the posts from Al Jazeera up.
Thank you for supplying better links. I had discounted the story based on the original source. I’m sure some will not even bother to read the full post.
“I’m sure some will not even bother to read the full post.”
Sounds like a good way to remain ignorant ... I guess we conservatives sometimes aren’t as hot as we’d like to think we are.
Talk about ignorant.
Don't be so touchy. Al Jazeera has a horrible track record when it comes to reliability. All the other posters are asking for is sources with at least a LITTLE more stature.
“Can’t we get a better source for breaking news than Al Jazeera?”
FYI - I picked up the link from Hot Air “the world’s first full-service conservative Internet broadcast network!”
- which was founded by the lovely conservative commentator, Michelle Malkin, whom incidentally I’ve gotten to meet twice now - so there ;)
“Talk about ignorant.”
YOU are the one who is a narrow-minded ignoramus!
I guess you don’t understand how unreliable Al Jazeera is and how much disrespect it deserves. I’ll grant you, that when it reports something which is actually good news for the U.S., then it lends some credence.
If you don’t “weight” your sources, then you are not being very discriminating. Most people on Free Republic do pay attention to sources. Most of us don’t have time to click on all the links. I tend to skip news stories posted from generally unreliable sources.
Do you consider Al Jazeera reliable?
There is a rule, when you mention her Malkinness, you must post pictures.
I don’t think it’s wrong to post a story from Al Jazeera. Everyone sees the name and is automatically on alert as to the nature of the source. And occasionally AJ might just be the first out with some actual news from the ME, even if highly-spun news, which we’re all suspecting anyway. If the story’s bogus, or if it’s verified, we’ll find out soon enough.
I think we hurt his little Al Jazeera-reading feelings.
Why can't you stay on the subject and admit you quoted an unreliable source, instead of being a jerk about it?
is any other wire service,
picking this up?
Sounds promising, thanks for the links!!
I hope it represents real progress and not just posturing. I doubt that leaders of groups in Iraq would have bothered to go to Finland unless they thought it was helpful (well maybe they just wanted a Scandanavian vacation), but we’ll have to see what influence these people have and whether there really is some sort of reconciliation process underway.
My my, the Democrats will be in meltdown mode if it should appear that Iraq is seriously approaching a better level of peace and stability. What will they have left to campaign on for 2008? Demagoguery on health care and the economy, I suppose.......
Absolutely! I'm praying this is true because I want to see how they'll try to spin it.
That's when you'll know the tide has turned. Followed by lots of mealy-mouthed Time and Newsweek columnists whining about how people are starting to approve of the war, and how this is a bad thing.
You took that better than I would have.
Good for you (not being sarcastic).
Yes, when we see Shrillery’s camp starting to re-spin their previous spin and start suggesting that Shrillery should preferred to the other Demagogues BECAUSE she voted for the war, then we’ll know the tide has turned. Edwards voted for it but has repudiated his own vote more emphatically and comprehensively than Shrillery, so he’ll have a hard time adjusting to the new realities.
I don’t think Shrillery will come out right away and say “the war was right but the admin. waged it badly” — but she’ll have surrogates doing so to try to modify the predominant position for the Demagogues.
Anyway, the story inspires hope.
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