Bush Policy Rules Out a Deal on Zarqawi

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (IPS) - U.S. President George W. Bush's adamant rejection of a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq effectively slams the door on a recent reported offer from Sunni resistance groups to eliminate the al Qaeda terrorist haven in Iraq as part of a negotiated peace agreement.

At the recent Iraqi reconciliation meeting in Cairo, leaders of three Sunni armed organisations -- the Islamic Army, the Bloc of Holy Warriors and the Revolution of 1920 Brigades -- told U.S. and Arab officials they were willing to track down terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and turn him over to Iraqi authorities as part of a negotiated settlement with the United States, according to the highly respected London-based Arabic-language Al-Hayat newspaper.

Other press reports have confirmed the presence of Sunni resistance leaders on the fringes of the conference, and Al Hayat reporters were on the scene covering the conference.

Bush has effectively ruled out such an agreement with the insurgent groups by rejecting any negotiation on a withdrawal timetable. He again attacked the idea of "setting an artificial deadline" for withdrawal in his speech to Naval cadets on Nov. 29.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=31294

...it exposes the entire exit rhetoric from the Bushies as a lie. Many of us already believe this. Karen Kwiatkowski, an ex-military intelligence officer and frequent critic of the war already asserts this. You do not build the number of sophisticated bases we have at tremendous costs and turn around and leave. This might just be one more piece of evidence that we intend to be in Iraq for decades.

But the Cons need to at least pay lip service to a pull-out to appease the growing number of Americans who would rather "cut and run" than "stay and die".

military lives and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.