Commentary: We Must Negotiate with Iraq

By the official goals, we have already achieved success in Iraq: no
weapons of mass destruction and the hanging of Saddam Hussein. We could
bring our troops home virtually in a matter of days by negotiating
directly with the insurgents - with al Qaida, if that is what this
movement is called. We know, now, why they hate us.

Ending the civil war and preventing a wider one demands negotiations with
the enemy. That is common sense. We need to know their terms, so that we
can weigh the cost of peace as against the cost of war - an unending war
on terrorism that sucks up our youth and the families of Iraq, and feeds
our national wealth into the military, industrial, government complex. We
must negotiate with al Qaida!

- Jean G. Braun