Text of report by Hiba Hani in Baghdad entitled “Committee combating occupation denies negotiations with the Americans”, published by London-based newspaper Al-Hayat web site on 26 June
Iraqi forces opposed to the occupation affirm that the rumours about US attempts to negotiate with the resistance are “a mere fabrication”. They also affirm the existence of attempts by the United States “to create parties that seemingly oppose it, but which it actually controls and uses to suppress the real trends that reject the occupation and the political process stemming from it”.
Shaykh Majid al-Ka’ud, secretary-general of the Higher Committee of the National Forces Rejecting the Occupation (Wahj al-Iraq) and deputy secretary-general of the National Front for Iraqi Intellectuals, has denied in a statement to Al-Hayat that “any honest resistance group” has negotiated with the Americans to lay down arms or join the political life. He said: “The resistance will continue until victory and liberation are achieved with the departure of the occupation armies.”
Al-Ka’ud said: “The announcement of negotiations between the occupation and the resistance is US-Zionist-Iranian plan, which US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi pursued during their visits to Iraq to marginalize the resistance, obliterate Iraq’s Arabism, history, culture and nationalism and divide it up into feeble entities that would be subject to plunder by the occupation companies.”
He said that what was termed “the doors of negotiations with the resistance to conclude a truce and issue general amnesty on Iraqi resistance men is a desperate attempt to penetrate the resistance’s ranks, after the US forces’ plans have failed to crush the resistance”. He accused “colluders with the occupation of betraying Iraq”. He explained that “the politicians are playing the role of mediators to create false units of tribal and party elements that previously fled from the field of resistance in order to steal Iraq’s funds. They presented themselves as representatives of patriotic forces that reject the occupation. They were presented to the Americans on this basis in order to hold negotiations with them and make everyone believe that the resistance has adopted negotiations and given up arms”.
Regarding the Arab fighters confronting the occupation in Iraq, Al-Ka’ud said: “What prompts these people is their religion and pan-Arab duty and the Iraqis embrace them due to the common destiny and one faith.”
Meanwhile, a movement calling itself “Armed Popular Struggle” [Al-Kifah al-Sha’bi al-Musallah] has revealed in a statement, of which Al-Hayat received a copy, that George Bush’s administration seeks “to establish opposition parties to the occupation. But they are actually its proteges. It is trying to attract well known political, tribal and social elements with millions of dollars”. The statement says that “well-known Sunni quarters are fighting the occupation openly, but they are cooperating with it secretly. They include The National Dialogue Council [majlis al-hiwar al-watani], the Islamic Party (al-hizb al-islami), and former ministers in Iyad Allawi’s government.
Source: Al-Hayat web site, London, in Arabic 26 Jun 05. Copyright 2005 BBC Monitoring Service. .
