Congress should call for a peace envoy to begin immediate peace talks with the Iraqi opposition after this week’s historic Cairo summit. The three-day meeting was the first attended by leading Iraqi political parties as well as a delegation linked to the insurgents, organized by former minister Ayham al-Sammarae.

Overcoming the initial opposition of Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari, the conference ended with a call for American withdrawal and an endorsement of “nationalist resistance” to foreign occupation.

The conference will resume in Baghdad in February, where a stronger call for US withdrawal is likely. The February date is consistent with the four-month period that has been established to re-negotiate the Iraqi constitution to accommodate Sunni demands.

It is clear that US proposals for token Sunni inclusion have failed, and that the peace deal emerging consists of incorporating the opposition into a new power-sharing arrangement.

If the deal is brokered, many Baathist officers will likely be incorporated into the Iraqi security forces to protect their populations. The Mahdi Army of Moktada al-Sadr will be accepted as sharing security responsibilities in areas they represent as well.

As previously reported, Iraqi elected officials have demonstrated their demand for withdrawal twice before, in a letter from 100-plus parliamentarians in July 2005 and a unanimous September 2005 report by the regime’s committee on sovereignty.

The US has been forced to accept the beginning of talks under the sponsorship of the Arab League. Sammarae, who invited the insurgent representatives to Cairo, said they were “willing to talk with whomever I can make them meet.” His bid received a boost from Iraq’s vice-president and highest-ranked Sunni, Ghazi Ajil Yawer, who said “whoever wants to talk politics has to have a political wing. I mean, look at the IRA – they had Sinn Fein, and even the VietCong, they had somebody to negotiate for them.”

Not all insurgents will accept a political settlement. But a majority of Iraqis, backed by several militias, will support the peace strategy rather than civil war.

Democrats and Republicans should be competing to support Iraqi talks as the beginning of the peace process. Instead they are losing the initiative to the Iraqis themselves. The steps to consider are these:

- Reduce US troops levels by 25,000 by Christmas.
- Support the Arab League’s peace diplomacy, including this week’s Call for a near-term withdrawal.
- Assign a US peace envoy to join the peace talks immediately and encourage the February Arab summit.
- Make peace diplomacy a higher priority than military operations.
- Place our allies on notice immediately.
- End offensive American operations in cities.
- Make clear that the US intends to withdraw, keep no permanent bases, and respect Iraqi control of Iraqi natural resources.
Make clear the the US is committed to an internationally-sponsored effort at postwar economic reconstruction, without Halliburtons.
Reduce tensions with Iran and Syria in exchange for their support for a political solution. Adopt these policy guidelines in budget and policy language by January.