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No dialogue with Iraq insurgents


Cairo / AFP
07/15/2005

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick ruled out Wednesday any contact between Washington and insurgents in Iraq , saying reports about such talks were "expanded inaccurately".

"There were reports about our (outreach) to the Sunni community and some of those were expanded inaccurately in terms of contacts with insurgents," he said.

"We will not be dealing with people who have blood on their hands," Zoellick told reporters after meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.

A coalition of 15 Al-Qaeda-linked militant groups calling itself the Unified Direction of the Mujahedeen in Iraq said in an Internet statement last month that it would never negotiate with the United States .

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had said in June that US officials had met with Iraq rebels on several occasions.

Asked about the possible reduction of US troops in Iraq , Zoellick reiterated that "the focus... is that the Iraqi forces stand up as they're trained and able to take the counter-insurgency efforts to the field. Our forces will stand up and this has started to happen already. Our emphasis is not on the timetable but on the conditions.

"It's going to be a long road... and as we've seen in the case of the attack on your ambassador there's going to be a vicious group of people who'll do anything to stop us."

Zoellick was referring to the recent kidnapping and killing of Egyptian envoy Ihab al-Sherif, whose murder was claimed by an Al-Qaeda-linked group led by Iraq 's most-wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The United States and Britain have discussed slashing troop levels as early as next year, according to a defense ministry document leaked to a British paper.

The document said the plan to reduce US-led troop levels to 66,000 from 176,000 by early 2006 and cut Britain 's 8,500-strong contingent to 3,000 was one of many options being discussed.