The fact that the alliance of Sunni-affiliated militants which has been continuing anti-American attacks in Iraq has proposed a "cease-fire" conditioned on the American armed forces providing a timetable for withdrawal shows the possibility that the Sunnis will take part in a political solution. It is also a move by them to do an end run around the creation of the new Transitional Government being led by Shia and Kurdish factions.

In response to an interview with the Asahi Shinbun, the leadership of the "Islamic People's Resistance League" made clear that of the ten groups making up its membership, half are Islamic groups and half are popular or ethnic groups. Groups such as "National Liberation Front," "Iraqi Resistance Movement," and "Secret Iraqi Army" are members, according to the leadership.

The leadership is divided into a political section and a military section. The political section controls decisions such as overall fighting strategy and alliances between the subgroups. The military section is led by people such as former members of the "Republican Guard" and members of the intelligence services during the Hussein government, they said.

At first, the creation of a cease-fire proposal around the elections was rejected by the Islamic subgroups with "As long as the American armed forces occupy, we cannot stop our attacks." However, the popular parties persuaded them with "We must show the people a political program toward normalization."

About the fact that the timeline for American withdrawal was not immediate but rather set at three years out, the leadership said that it was a result of them "soliciting opinions from the former Iraqi army leadership that runs our military section about what period it would be possible to do a withdrawal in."

About the "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" group that has been repeatedly conducting suicide bombing terrorism and killing foreigners, the leadership stressed differences, with "Groups like Al-Qaeda are proclaiming a holy war against the United States, but we have no ideas like that. Those groups think nothing of sacrificing citizens on the street, but we are focusing attacks on American armed forces and Iraqi National Guard, and do not take actions which would include civilians in the damage. If the American armed forces show us a timetable for withdrawal, and there is agreement, we will force Al-Qaeda out."

However they said that last fall when American armed forces had their large scale attack on Samara and Falluja that they had fought along with Al-Qaeda forces. "We are searching for a political solution to the end, and we tried to avoid damaging the city, but the Americans forced their attack," he recalls.

After the American attack on Falluja last April, local former members of the old Iraqi Army upper leadership and others took responsibility for security in the city along with the police, and for a while the American armed forces withdrew from the city. The armed factions searching for a political solution reminds one of the framework of that time. Because the Shia and Kurdish groups are pushing the elections as a top priority, and the Sunni main political parties and religious groups are boycotting them, and also due to the decline in the security situation, a low turnout is expected. If the Shia and Kurdish factions unite and take a majority of seats in the new transitional parliament, the Sunnis worry that they will be shut out of nation-building.