Odierno: U.S. reaching out to insurgents

U.S. commanders in Iraq are beginning to take a seemingly giant step in the effort to defeat extremist insurgents: negotiations with the enemy.

Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 U.S. commander in Iraq, said he has told other U.S. commanders “at all levels” to “reach out” to insurgents “because there are insurgents reaching out to us — which is the most important thing. So we want to reach back to them. And we’re talking about cease-fires, and maybe signing some things that say they won’t conduct operations against the government of Iraq, or against coalition forces.”

Odierno said the effort is just getting underway.

“It’s happening at small levels,” he said. He didn’t specify which groups were involved.

He also said he thinks a high degree of reconciliation between rival sects and groups is possible, adding that perhaps 80 percent of the sectarian elements within the country are “reconcilable.” That would include “very few” members of al-Qaida, he added.

Odierno, speaking from Iraq on Thursday via a satellite link, also said the high number of U.S. troop deaths in recent days has been caused both by their closer proximity to enemy forces while disbursed into joint security stations and combat outposts, and by the enemy’s efforts to build “bigger and bigger” improvised explosive devices and burying them more deeply — as well as using them to form defensive perimeters.

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“What we’re finding is the insurgents and extremists use IEDs as their own little security and support zones,” Odierno said. “They use large, buried IEDs, in areas we have not been before. And some of them have been somewhat effective — which has raised our death toll.

“We are working very hard to counter this,” Odierno said. “I have confidence that we’ll be able to do that over time. But it’s going to be some hard sledding here.”

Odierno said he won’t be able to make his first assessment of the ongoing surge of troops until August — but that if he had his way, he’d want more time beyond the much-awaited September time frame, when an assessment is due to Congress.

The answer, he said, might be that the surge troops haven’t been on the ground long enough to make a fair assessment.

“The assessment might be, ‘I need a little more time,’” Odierno said.

The assessment could also conclude that the surge has been effective, or that it hasn’t been, he said. “But right now, if you asked me, I’d tell you I’ll probably need a little bit more time to do a true assessment,” Odierno said.

To date, Odierno said, “We’ve made small progress here. We have not made the progress that I think is necessary yet.”

If progress is made, U.S. troops, even at a reduced level, could be in Iraq for many years to come. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Wednesday that President Bush believes U.S. troops will have to remain in Iraq long after a major combat role is finished. He mentioned the “Korean model,” referring to U.S. troops’ decades-old presence in South Korea following the Korean War.

Odierno said that while that decision is a matter for the two governments to decide, “I think it’s a great idea. I think it’d be very helpful to have a force here for a period of time to continue to help the Iraqis train, and continue to build their capabilities. ... If they want us to continue to stay here and fight al-Qaida for a period of time, we certainly will do that and develop our force accordingly.”

Odierno said he’s still optimistic about the success of an intensive search for two soldiers still missing following an ambush south of Baghdad nearly three weeks ago.

“Of course I have hope,” Odierno said. “We continue to get tips. We continue to go after them aggressively as we get them.”

But, he admitted, “As time goes on, it gets tougher. And that’s the bottom line. ... But we’re not going to give up, and we will stay very focused on trying to find those … great young men.”

He added that “we are doing everything we can” to also locate five British citizens recently kidnapped by gunmen from the Finance Ministry in Baghdad.

“If I was a betting man, I would bet that it’s Shia extremists” who conducted that kidnapping."

I only had a minute to read that but what I gathered and what I heard on the radio...they want to open talks with the sectarian elements that are primarily fighting each other, I don't think they are going to get anywhere with Osama's boys but if they can get the Iraqis to work together and stop shooting each other, things will calm down a great deal there.

I could have misunderstood the whole thing though.