U.S. Talks With Iraqi Insurgents

Washington Post:

The U.S. military in Iraq has been holding face-to-face meetings with some Iraqi leaders of the insurgency there, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and the U.S. commander in charge of Iraq confirmed yesterday. The talks are part of the military's revised campaign to drive a wedge between the Iraqi and foreign insurgents, according to U.S. commanders. Pentagon officials have acknowledged the new strategy but have not, until now, spoken openly about efforts to make contact with some Iraqi insurgent leaders. Asked to respond to a report that U.S. military representatives had meetings with several Sunni Iraqi insurgents twice in June, Rumsfeld told Fox News that 'there have probably been many more than that' and described the contacts as an effort to 'split people off and get some people to be supportive' of the political process in Iraq.

This is another sign that our campaign in Iraq is going well, despite the bad news that we often hear and the negative spin that is placed on even positive news. We are winning in Iraq. That doesn't mean that the violence is going to end, it will probably continue at it's present level for some time, and even years from now there will probably be occassional attacks. The simple fact is though that the Sunni insugents are obviously having doubts about the utility of armed struggle, and they are also apparently displeased with their foreign allies. Without local support, the foreign jihadists will be very limited in their capabilities.