US reaches out to insurgents

Baghdad - The operational commander of US troops in Iraq on Thursday said officers are seeking local ceasefire deals with insurgents, after the deadliest month for American forces in two-and-a-half years.
Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, the number two US officer in Iraq, told reporters that about four-fifths of the militants currently fighting American forces were thought to be ready to join Iraq's political process.
"So we want to reach back to them," he said. "And we're talking about ceasefires and maybe signing some things that say they won't conduct operations against the government of Iraq or against coalition forces."
As Odierno was speaking to reporters by a videolink to the Pentagon in Washington, residents in west Baghdad reported that insurgents from the nationalist 1920 Brigades were fighting their former al-Qaeda allies.
Happening in 'small levels'
US commanders hope to convince local Iraqi resistance groups to split from Islamist outfits like al-Qaeda that are thought irreconcilable.
In the western province of Anbar, tribal leaders have already turned on insurgents.
"It's happening in small levels. Now, again, it's just beginning, so we have a lot of work to do in this," said Odierno, noting that Shi'ite groups such as the Mahdi Army might be won over along with Sunni insurgents.
"We have organised ourselves to be more aggressive in this area. We believe a large majority of groups within Iraq are reconcilable, and are now interested in engaging with us," the general said.
Change in stategy
The comments by Odierno, second in command in Iraq to General David Petraeus, are the clearest signal yet of a change in strategy by US forces after more than four years of bitter combat with insurgents of all stripes.
The military announced Thursday that six more US soldiers have been killed in Iraq, confirming that May has become the deadliest month for American forces since the battle of Fallujah in November 2004.
The news will increase pressure on US President George W Bush, who has already seen domestic support for his war strategy fall to an all-time low and is facing calls to set a timetable for troops withdrawals.