CAIRO, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani sent mixed signals to Iraq's insurgents at an Arab League conference Sunday.
On the one hand, Talabani, a Kurd offered dialogue with representatives of the ever-intensifying insurgency at a reconciliation conference sponsored by the Arab League.
"I am committed to listen to them, even those who are criminals and on trial," Talabani told a news conference. But then he added, "But of course that does not mean I will accept what they say."
Talabani tried to strike a note of national reconciliation and inclusiveness at the conference, telling it he was "responsible for all Iraqis" and wanted to "listen... even to criminals".
But on the other hand, he seemed to make this offer a dead letter by ruling out any political participation or real power for either former president Saddam Hussein;s ousted Baathist loyalists or for the Islamist extremists spearheaded by al-Qaida and its Iraqi operational commander Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He ruled out explicitly any role for them in iraq's still nascent political democracy.
There have been unconfirmed reports that Talabani met with insurgent representatives during the conference.
