WASHINGTON, June 26 (Xinhuanet) -- US Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday the United States has been facilitating meetings between officials from the Iraqi government and insurgents, confirming a report in London on such meetings.

    "The Iraqis have a sovereign government. They will decide what their relationships with various elements of insurgents will be. We facilitate those from time to time," Rumsfeld said on "Fox NewsSunday."

    Rumsfeld was responding to questions over a report on The Sunday Times newspaper that four US officials met secretly with Iraqi insurgent commanders at a summer villa in Balad, north of Baghdad, on June 3 and June 13 to try to negotiate an end to the bloodshed.

    The report said one American official introduced himself as a Pentagon representative and declared himself ready to "find ways of stopping the bloodshed on both sides and to listen to demands and grievances."

    Rumsfeld said the meetings were part of the effort by the Iraqigovernment to reach out to "the people who are not supporting the government."

    "Are our people involved in helping them? Sure. We talk to people all the time," he said on ABC's "This Week."

    Rumsfeld said the Iraqi government would not try to bring in the people "with blood on their hands." But the London report saidinsurgents at the first meeting included the Ansar al-Sunnah Army, which claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 22 people in the dining hall of a US base at Mosul last Christmas. Enditem

Rumsfeld: Insurgency could last for years

    BEIJING, June 27 -- US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday more violence in Iraq could go on for a number of years.

    He said that defeating the insurgency may take as long as 12 years, with Iraqi security forces, not U.S. and foreign troops, taking the lead and finishing the job.

    In a deadly week for U.S. forces, an ambush on a convoy carrying female troops killed four Marines. Statistics from AP indicate at least 1,735 members of the U.S. military have died since the war started in March 2003.

    Rumsfeld said insurgents want to disrupt the democratic transformation as Iraqi leaders draft a constitution and plan for elections in December to choose a full-term government.

    A British newspaper reported Sunday that American officials recently met secretly with Iraqi insurgent commanders north of Baghdad to try to negotiate an end to the bloodshed.

    Speaking generally, Rumsfeld said those kinds of meetings "go on all the time" and that Iraqis "will decide what their relationships with various elements of insurgents will be."

    The contacts, the Pentagon leader said, were intended to make it easier for the Shiite-led government to reach out to minority Sunnis.

    Rumsfeld said Iraq's security forces have gained respect among Iraqis. He suggested insurgents' ability to kill in large numbers did not indicate a decline in public support of US and Iraqi governments' efforts. Nor that political, economic and security progress has been lacking.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)