Blair says contacts with Iraqi insurgents "perfectly sensible"

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Monday it was "perfectly sensible" for the United States and its allies in Iraq to talk with elements of the Iraqi insurgents aimed at promoting stability.

"It's our job politically to pull as many people into the political process," said Blair at a Downing Street monthly press conference before talks later Monday with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari.

"That is an engagement not just by the Iraqi government, but by the Americans, ourselves, others, everybody. It's perfectly sensible." said Blair.

"We're not compromising our position with terrorism or any of the rest of it. We're simply trying, perfectly sensibly, to pull as many people in to the democratic fold as possible," Blair noted.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed Sunday that US officials had met with Iraqi rebels on several occasions, but warned that the Iraqi insurgency could last a dozen years.

On Sunday, British newspaper The Sunday Times reported the US officials were in secret talks with Iraqi insurgents aimed at seeking an eventual breakthrough that might reduce the violence in Iraq.

The talks took place at Balad in the hills 65 kilometers north of Baghdad on June 3 and 10 days later, the report said, citing an Iraqi who said that he had attended both meetings.

Source: Xinhua