With 17 Americans killed in Iraq over the weekend, in addition to the 11 who died on Thursday, it’s clear that the Iraqi resistance isn’t going away. So it’s good news that there are signs, if small ones, that the United States is thinking about opening a dialogue with the insurgents—and, it appears, so is the Iraqi government.

Of course, it isn’t the Shiite religious parties that want a dialogue with the resistance, but the Kurds—specifically, President Jalal Talabani. Still, it’s important news.

First, a report from the New York Times on Saturday:

American officials are talking with local Iraqi insurgent leaders to exploit a rift that has opened between homegrown insurgents and radical groups like Al Qaeda, and to draw the local leaders into the political process, according to a Western diplomat, an Iraqi political leader and an Iraqi insurgent leader.

Clashes between Iraqi groups and Al Qaeda have broken out in several cities across the Sunni Triangle, including Taji, Yusefiya, Qaim and Ramadi, and they appear to have intensified in recent months, according to interviews with insurgents and with American and Iraqi officials.

In an interview on Friday, a Western diplomat who supports the talks said that the Americans had opened face-to-face discussions with insurgents in the field, and that they were communicating with senior insurgent leaders through intermediaries.

The Times notes that the talks are taking place "inside and outside Iraq," which makes it more likely that those involved in the talks from the resistance side are the mainstream Baathists and former Iraqi military officers who are the core of the insurgency.

Meanwhile, Beirut’s Daily Star reports that Talabani is engaging the insurgency as well, although his security adviser says that the contacts include former Baathists but not current supporters of Saddam (though I find that to be a distinction without a difference):

The Iraqi government is talking directly to all militant groups who are willing to communicate but no commitments have been made to any of them, a senior Iraqi official said Sunday. President Jalal Talabani has instructed aides to "listen and talk to anyone who wants to approach us," said Wafiq al-Samarei, Talabani's adviser for security affairs.

"Yes, many groups are communicating with us. We are listening to them and providing them with advice with open arms and transparency," he said.

In a bid to dampen the persistence violence and help to draw Sunni Arabs, who make up the core of the insurgency, into the political process, U.S. and Iraqi officials for months have been communicating directly or through channels with members of the disaffected minority connected to the insurgency.

On Saturday, a Western diplomat reported a recent "uptick" in those contacts.