Lenin, from Lenin's Tomb, flags a recently posted Time Magazine article that says the US is secretly meeting with insurgents in Iraq. Lenin also credits Victor from Apostate Windbag with sniffing this story early. Here's an excerpt from Time:

The secret meeting is taking place in the bowels of a facility in Baghdad, a cavernous, heavily guarded building in the U.S.-controlled green zone. The Iraqi negotiator, a middle-aged former member of Saddam Hussein's regime and the senior representative of the self-described nationalist insurgency, sits on one side of the table.

He is here to talk to two members of the U.S. military. One of them, an officer, takes notes during the meeting. The other, dressed in civilian clothes, listens as the Iraqi outlines a list of demands the U.S. must satisfy before the insurgents stop fighting. The parties trade boilerplate complaints: the U.S. officer presses the Iraqi for names of other insurgent leaders; the Iraqi says the newly elected Shi'a-dominated government is being controlled by Iran. The discussion does not go beyond generalities, but both sides know what's behind the coded language.

The Iraqi's very presence conveys a message: Members of the insurgency are open to negotiating an end to their struggle with the U.S. "We are ready," he says before leaving, "to work with you." [ ... ]
Pentagon officials say the secret contacts with insurgent leaders are being conducted mainly by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers. A Western observer close to the discussions says that "there is no authorized dialogue with the insurgents" but that the U.S. has joined "back-channel" communications with rebels. Says the observer: "There's a lot bubbling under the surface today."

Over the course of the war in Iraq, as the anti-U.S. resistance has grown in size and intensity, Administration officials have been steadfast in their refusal to negotiate with enemy fighters. But in recent months, the persistence of the fighting and signs of division in the ranks of the insurgency have prompted some U.S. officials to seek a political solution. And Pentagon and intelligence officials hope the high voter turnout in last month's election will deflate the morale of the insurgents and persuade more of them to come in from the cold.

The above isn't that surprising. I, like everyone else, don't really know what's going on in Iraq to any degree of specificity, but I can guess the general plan ... set up a dynamic in which Iraq's new government is subservient to US wishes through whatever means are convenient (if doing so is not possible, demonize the new Iraqi regime, get rid of it, and start again), scale down the US troop presence in Iraq, tuck the remaining troops safely away into the fourteen permanent military bases being built, and count on the media to not mention the word Iraq for a very long time.

The whole thing would be a lot easier if those pesky insurgents didn't keep blowing people up ...