Balking at peace talks: What if Bushco were secretly preparing the next Big Thing in Iraq? You remember the first Big Thing — Weapons of Mass Destruction — and how well that turned out. Took about two years for that one to be replaced by the next Big Thing — Insurgents Are Terrorists. Well, it looks like the next Big Thing is going to be We Can’t Leave Iraq Until We’ve Ended Sectarian Violence Or We’ve Trained the Iraqi Army To Quash It.

That seems to be one conclusion that can be drawn from an Inter Press News Service report that came out on May 5, citing a London-based Arab newspaper that said secret peace talks between the U.S. and Iraqi insurgents ended in late April when the U.S. representative, Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, failed to respond to a peace proposal from the insurgents.

According to IPS, “Asharq Al Awsat” newspaper, reported that “resistance organisations” had just broken off the secret talks:

The Arab-language newspaper reported that the leader of a Sunni insurgent group had revealed in an interview that representatives of more than 10 prominent Iraqi insurgent organisations had met with Khalilzad seven times starting on Jan. 16.

‘The formation of the government based on a sectarian formula will lead to the partition of Iraq and weakening it.’

However, the insurgent leader said that the United States had never responded to a memorandum of understanding presented to Khalilzad around March 1, despite a promise to do so before the formation of a new government. He said the insurgents had decided to end the talks and had delivered a memo to the U.S. Embassy on April 29 informing the United States of the decision.

IPS noted that the story was picked up by the Associated Press, datelined Dubai, but has escaped the notice of major international news media. “Asharq Al Awsat” quoted an anonymous source regarding the meetings and their purpose:

“We took part in a series of meetings with the US ambassador, beginning on 16 January first in Amman and later in Baghdad, outside the Green Zone. In total, seven meetings were held, three before a week of enforced calm [cease fire] on 6 February and four afterwards.”

The source admitted that the meetings were held through an intermediary “an Iraqi leader who we trust and who has good relations with the US administration.”

The insurgents’ goal in participating in the talks was to reach an understanding before the new government was installed. Their proposal sought to ensure that U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq and the country remained united, without foreign countries — or the puppet Iraqi government — dictating its affairs.

That Khalilzad would meet seven times with insurgent representatives, and inside the Green Zone and in the presence, allegedly, of the assistant to Army Commander Gen. George Casey, surely would have demonstrated to the insurgents that the U.S. was negotiating in good faith. But it wasn’t, according to the source quoted by the Arab paper:

“However, we have yet to receive an answer. We were very surprised by the new Iraqi government, which was based on sectarian considerations. The U.S. side was expected to reply to our memorandum prior to the formation of the new Iraqi government and reach an agreement with us. This is why we decided to suspend the talks and we informed the Americans of this in a memorandum on Sunday[April 28].”

“Our agreement with the U.S. ambassador was conditioned on the non-participation of any other individuals or political group. We wanted the talks to be held between us and the U.S. ambassador directly.”

The source cautioned that, “The formation of the government based on a sectarian formula will lead to the partition of Iraq and weakening it. We do not recognize this government and will not deal with it.” He also revealed that efforts were under way to unite the Iraqi resistance and create a council and unified leadership.

And there, folks, you have the birth of the next Big Thing. The insurgents were ready to deal, and all they asked was to deal directly with the U.S. and for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. But once they’d tipped their hand and Bushco found what it would take to end the insurgency (and the ongoing occupation of Iraq by the United States, which is the point of the whole exercise), the deal was off. The new puppets were installed in a way that guarantees sectarian sniping and violence, and ensures that the insurgents will continue to insurge.

Thus, the U.S. has no choice but to stay in Iraq to build up the Iraqi army to quell the insurgency, which is being fed by sectarian violence, and enforce cohesion where, according to the Sunni insurgent, we could have peace and stability — if only we’d leave. But the pull out of U.S. troops from Iraq is one Big Thing we are not likely to see anytime soon.