Iraqi factions display a rare unity

[ECH1969]

CAIRO Iraqi leaders put their differences to one side Monday and agreed on a joint statement on how to end the conflict between their communities and achieve national reconciliation.

A statement supported by Shiite, Sunni, Kurdish and Christian leaders after talks in Cairo demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops, the release of prisoners and a program for rebuilding Iraq's armed forces.

The final communiqué was hammered out at the end of three days of negotiations under the auspices of the Arab League. The statement included no means for implementing its provisions, leaving it unclear that it will mean anything beyond a symbolic first step toward bringing the feuding parties together.

The participants agreed on "calling for the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces" and to "control the borders and the security situation," and end terror attacks.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/11/21/news/iraq.php

[TheCowsCameHome]

1. Good for them. Let's go home. No sense delaying their civil war.

[annabanana]

2. They are united on this point,,,

I say we hit the road..

[cal04]

3. Final statement: "Resistance is a legitimate right of all peoples"

On Monday, all parties to the three-day meeting called by the Cairo-based Arab League agreed to the formula: "Resistance is a legitimate right of all peoples", said Mezher al-Dulaimi, a Sunni Muslim from the defiant west of Iraq.

Shaikh Emad Mohammed Ali, an official of the Sunni Muslim Iraqi People's Gathering, confirmed the agreement.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F49E55D0-66B1-437C-935F-7BD475B107CD.htm