Baghdad, Iraq – U.S. officials have met figures from some Sunni Arab insurgent groups but have so far not received any commitment from them to lay down their arms, Western diplomats in Baghdad and neighboring Jordan said Wednesday.
Three more U.S. troops were killed in Iraq – two of them in roadside bombings, the U.S. command said.
The meetings, described as being in the initial stage, have not included members of al-Qaeda in Iraq or like-minded religious extremists, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
Contacts have taken place in western Iraq, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates, according to two diplomats based in the Jordanian capital, Amman. One of them said talks might shift to Egypt “at some point.”
Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, said the United States is involved in talks on promoting Iraq’s political process with “all sorts of groups” but declined to say if any insurgents were among them.
However, a Western diplomat in Baghdad who is familiar with the dialogue said the U.S. was reaching out to “Sunni Arab nationalists” and “some Islamists from the Shiite and Sunni sides,” many of whom have grievances about jobs and reconstruction money.
