al Maliki: Release Iraq Insurgents To Promote National "Unity"

I don't even know what to think about this, and the US reaction. Release them so they have more enemies to fight? :wtf:


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/11/AR2007111101101.html?hpid=topnews

Iraqi Prime Minister Pushes Plan to Release Insurgents
Nouri al-Maliki Says Move Would Stir Feelings of Unity Among Iraqi People

By Joshua Partlow and Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, November 11, 2007; 6:06 PM

BAGHDAD Nov. 11---During an optimistic address in which he described the changes in Iraqi security as "remarkable" and pronounced the country "revived," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced on Sunday his latest push for an amnesty program for insurgents, a move that he hoped would drain the crowded prisons and allow Iraq to move past its sectarian warfare.

At a news conference near his office in the Green Zone, Maliki sketched only the broad outlines of what the amnesty could entail, insisting people who were found guilty of murder or other acts of terrorism would not be pardoned, but said it would still cover many of the "misguided" people who cooperated with militant groups but did not commit "major" crimes. "All those people will be released," he said.

"This is a step for bringing back the unity of the Iraqi people," Maliki said.

snip//

Mirembe Nantongo, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said in an e-mail that the American government is waiting for the government of Iraq to "come to consensus as to what Iraqi law requires before preparing a physical transfer."

"The U.S. is not refusing to relinquish custody," she said.