Iraqi leader proposes amnesty
Those who hit only US forces would be eligible
BAGHDAD-- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday proposed a limited amnesty to help end the Sunni Arab insurgency as part of a national reconciliation plan that Maliki said would be released within days. The plan is likely to include pardons for those who had attacked only US troops, a top adviser said.
Maliki's declaration of openness to talks with some members of Sunni armed factions, and the prospect of pardons, are concessions that previous interim governments had avoided. The statements marked the first time a leader from Iraq's governing Shi'ite religious parties has publicly embraced national reconciliation, welcomed dialogue with armed groups, and proposed a limited amnesty.
Reconciliation could include an amnesty for those ``who weren't involved in the shedding of Iraqi blood," Maliki told reporters during a Baghdad news conference. ``Also, it includes talks with the armed men who opposed the political process and now want to turn back to political activity."
Maliki stressed that he had not yet met with the Sunni resistance and added, ``We will talk to those whose hands are not stained with blood, and we hope they would rethink their strategy." He vowed that they ``will not be able to interrupt the political process, either by wanting to bring back the old regime or imposing an ugly, ethnic new regime upon Iraq."
President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, has long talked of negotiations and a possible limited amnesty to help end Iraq's violence; however, Maliki's statements marked the greatest public show of willingness to compromise from governments led by the Shi'ite religious parties.
The Arab League yesterday postponed a reconciliation conference for Iraq set for August. Adnan Ali al-Kadhimi, a top adviser to Maliki, said the conference was delayed in part so Iraq could decide who might be eligible for amnesty. It was not clear how the government would verify which insurgents have been responsible for which types of attacks.
The reconciliation effort pioneered by South Africa after the collapse of apartheid might be a model, Kadhimi said. ``One way was to admit what you have done and you will be forgiven, and maybe parts of this can be considered. Because once we see people coming forward to admit what they have done, and it's within the areas the government has the right to pardon, it could happen."
US diplomatic officials have said previously that they were encouraging dialogue among Iraq's many rival factions, but none has confirmed US backing for an amnesty offer.
Maliki also addressed the problem of militias allied with his Shi'ite religious bloc. ``Our success in the national reconciliation plan and our success in providing services will give . . . a message that there is no need anymore for militias, because security is under the government's control." He had earlier proposed that militias be absorbed into Iraq's security forces.
Maliki's statements were made as there is growing openness to dialogue on all sides of Iraq's ethnic and religious divides. Talabani told reporters at a news conference in the Kurdish north last weekend that he believed 2006 might be the year of peace settlements for Iraq.
Similarly, the top Sunni Arab in Iraq's new government, Salem al-Zobaie, said this week that he believed a peace deal was ``very close." 