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The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, says it is important that the Sunni population in Iraq be brought into the political process to help defeat the violent insurgency and rebuild the country.

General Myers told reporters at the Pentagon that the winning strategy in Iraq is to continue fighting the insurgency to create an environment that will allow the political process to move forward.

America's top general added Iraq's Sunni population, which held political power during the reign of Saddam Hussein and is considered the main source behind the insurgency, needs to believe it has a positive future.

"People are working very hard to make sure the Sunnis do see a political future in Iraq and a future for them," said General Myers, "and that is very important, I think, to progress on all fronts, economic, and security and so forth, it is very important."

General Myers' remarks came as Iraq's political leaders continue to negotiate details of a new constitution with the hope that proposed compromises will lead to at least some support within the Sunni population.

The general said such support will help convince more people to reject the insurgency and support the Iraqi government.

"Sunni inclusion in the political process is going to help with this insurgency," he said, "because the fence sitters [people who are undecided] will see their future with the new Iraq and not with the old Saddam Hussein regime or whatever the cause is."

Iraqis are currently scheduled to vote on a new constitution in October, and during a separate briefing a senior U.S. commander in the country said there is growing confidence that the referendum and elections scheduled for December will be successful.


But Army Major General Joseph Taluto also predicted violence will increase in Sunni-dominated areas as the election approaches.

"We expect that the enemies will increase their attacks, particularly as we run up to the referendum," he said. "The divergent groups all have their own strategies and they select a time for these attacks. But they go up and then we will have a week or two where the attacks will go down, and they seem to re-arm themselves and then re-attack."

When asked why the U.S.-led military coalition has been unable thus far to defeat the insurgents, General Taluto said progress is being made and it is not widely recognized that troops stop many attacks before they can be executed.美國參謀長聯席會議主席理查德·邁爾斯（Richard Myers）說，重要的是要把伊拉克遜尼派人口納入政治進程，幫助打敗暴力叛亂和重建國家。

邁爾斯將軍在五角大樓告訴記者說，伊拉克的制勝戰略是繼續打擊叛亂，創造一個讓政治進程前進的環境。

美國最高的將軍補充說，伊拉克的遜尼派人口在薩達姆統治時期掌握著政治權力，被認為是叛亂背後的主要根源，需要相信它有一個積極的未來。

邁爾斯將軍說：“人們正在努力確保遜尼派確實看到了伊拉克的政治未來和他們的未來。我認為，這是非常重要的，要在各個方面，經濟和安全方面取得進展，如此，這是非常重要的。“

邁爾斯將軍的言論隨著伊拉克政治領導人繼續談判新憲法的細節，希望提議的妥協將導致遜尼派人口中的至少一些支持。

將軍說，這種支持有助於說服更多的人反對叛亂，支持伊拉克政府。

他說：“遜尼派在政治進程中的參與將有助於這場叛亂，因為籬笆保衛者（未決定的人）將看到他們的未來與新的伊拉克而不是舊的薩達姆侯賽因政權或任何原因是“。

伊拉克人目前定於10月份就新憲法進行表決。美國一位高級指揮官在另一次通報中表示，人們越來越相信，12月的公民投票和選舉將取得成功。


但軍隊少將約瑟夫·塔圖托也預測，隨著選舉的臨近，遜尼派占主導地位的暴力將會增加。

他說：“我們預計敵人會加大襲擊力度，特別是在公投前。” “不同的團體都有自己的策略，選擇一個時間進行攻擊，但是他們往上走，然後我們會有一兩個星期的時間攻擊下來，好像重新武裝起來，攻擊。”

當被問及為什麼美國領導的軍事聯盟迄今未能擊敗叛亂分子時，塔圖托將軍表示，目前正在取得進展，部隊在停止許多襲擊之前不會被執行。