New amnesty plan excludes those who attacked U.S.

[sabra]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/23/MNG1FJJ39R1.DTL

New amnesty plan excludes those who attacked U.S.

(06-23) 04:00 PDT Baghdad -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new plan to promote reconciliation among Iraq's rival factions will offer amnesty to Iraqis who have carried weapons but not to those who have committed serious crimes, according to Iraqi politicians who have read the proposal.

The plan is the first formal initiative by al-Maliki's Shiite Muslim-led government to reach out to insurgents and create a political dialogue among factions. It has gone through several revisions, and the specifics are expected to be discussed in parliament on Sunday.

Earlier proposals suggested offering pardons to Iraqis who have attacked U.S. troops but not to those who attacked other Iraqis -- an idea that was strongly denounced in the U.S. Senate. The new plan does not make that distinction, Iraqi officials said.

"It says that the government will issue an amnesty for all those who have not committed crimes against the people of Iraq and the friends of Iraq," said Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh, an ethnic Kurd. "Those who attack U.S. forces are not immune from legal consequences. An attack on Iraqi forces or multinational forces are seen legally ... as the same thing from the perspective of the government."

[atreides1]

1. Oh well

So much for this plan. Without a guarantee of amnesty the insurgents have no reason to stop resisting.

Looks like Bush and the Repukes got their "Stay and Die" policy!!!!

[Kagemusha]

2. Amnesty only for those insurgents who didn't fight in the insurgency.

That'll help!

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. LOL...exactly

What a farce this whole thing is. Needless to say, something like a Truth Commission would be the best way to go about things - the way they did it in South Africa (of course, the West always gets behind colonial people "forgiving" white folks, and rises up in fury for the reverse). But the pathological American bloodlust would never allow it. We're too busy X'ing out faces on the cover of Time Magazine to do anything so sensible.

[HuffleClaw]

3. just as predicted, they 'rethought' their position

why bother at all? what a joke. they'd have done better to bring up the idea AFTER the us elections.

[acmavm]

4. So in other words, only people who don't need amnesty qualify?

Sort of like tax breaks in this country, isn't it?

[Tempest]

5. More proof the Iraqi government is a puppet to the U.S.

There's no way this government will ever be seen as legitimate to the Iraqi people, the insurgency or to the religious militias.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. That will work well.

Standing tall for Iraq there Nouri al-Maliki. Got sovereignty yet?