Report: U.S. held talks with insurgent commanders in Iraq

LONDON -- U.S. officials recently met secretly with Iraqi insurgent commanders at a summer villa north of Baghdad to try to negotiate an end to the bloodshed, a British newspaper reported Sunday.\nSecretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, asked about the report, suggested that meetings between Iraqi officials and insurgents "go on all the time" and said "we facilitate those from time to time."\nThe insurgent commanders "apparently came face to face" with four American officials during meetings on June 3 and June 13 at a summer villa near Balad, about 25 miles north of Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, The Sunday Times newspaper in London said.\nThe report, which quoted unidentified Iraqis whose groups were purportedly involved in the meetings, said the insurgents at the first meeting included the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which claimed responsibility for suicide bombings in Iraq and an attack that killed 22 people in the dining hall of a U.S. base at Mosul last Christmas.\nTwo others were Mohammed's Army and the Islamic Army in Iraq, which in August reportedly killed Italian journalist Enzo Baldoni, the newspaper said.\nOne American at the talks introduced himself as a Pentagon representative and declared himself ready to "find ways of stopping the bloodshed on both sides and to listen to demands and grievances," The Sunday Times said.\nThe official indicated that the results of the talks would be relayed to his superiors in Washington, the newspaper said.\nRumsfeld sought to play down the report, saying the Shiite-dominated government was reaching out to the disaffected Sunni minority -- believed to be the driving force behind Iraq's insurgency -- and the Americans were helping them.\n"The Iraqis have a sovereign government. They will decide what their relationships with various elements of insurgents will be. We facilitate those from time to time," he said on "Fox News Sunday."\n"My understanding is some London paper reported this and everyone is chasing it. I would not make a big deal out of it. Meetings go on frequently with people," Rumsfeld said.\nDiscussing the report on ABC's "This Week," the defense secretary said: "I get reports on dozens of meetings. If you're asking: 'Are the Iraqis -- whose country it is -- reaching out to the Sunnis?' Yes, they are."\n"Are our people involved in helping them? Sure. We talk to people all the time," he added.\nThe U.S. officials tried to gather information about the structure, leadership and operations of the insurgent groups, which irritated some members, who had been told the talks would consider their main demand, a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, the newspaper said.\nDuring the June 13 talks, the U.S. officials demanded that two other insurgent groups, the 1920 Revolution and the Majhadeen Shoura Council, cut ties with the country's most-feared insurgent group, al-Qaida in Iraq, according to the report.\nA senior U.S. official said earlier this month that American authorities have negotiated with key Sunni leaders, who are in turn talking with insurgents and trying to persuade them to lay down their arms. The official, who did not give his name so as not to undercut the new government's authority, did not name the Sunni leaders engaged in dialogue.\nIraq's former electricity minister, Ayham al-Samarie, has told The Associated Press that two insurgent groups -- the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Army of Mujahedeen -- were willing to negotiate with the Iraqi government, possibly opening a new political front in the country.\nAl-Samarie, a Sunni Muslim, said he had established contact with the groups which account for a large part of the Sunni insurgents and were responsible for attacks against Iraqis and foreigners, including assassinations and kidnappings.\nA senior Shiite legislator, Hummam Hammoudi, also told AP recently that the Iraqi government had opened indirect channels of communication with some insurgent groups.\nThe contacts were "becoming more promising and they give us reason to continue," Hammoudi said, without providing details.\nU.S. and Iraqi officials also are considering amnesty for their enemies as they look for ways to end the country's rampant insurgency and isolate extremists wanting to start a civil war.