Iraq's President Jalal Talabani says he is willing to hold talks with insurgents and members of the ousted government. He spoke at an Iraqi reconciliation conference in Cairo. He and other Iraqi politicians condemned terrorism -- differentiating it from what they called the "legitimate right of resistance."
The conference brought together leaders from Iraq's Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish groups. They also called for the withdrawal of foreign troops in Iraq, but did not set a timetable. Following the Cairo conference, Mr. Talabani traveled to Tehran for the first visit to Iran by an Iraqi head of state in nearly four decades. He met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for wide-ranging talks on bilateral relations and the fight against terrorism. Near Baghdad, U.S. troops killed at least three Iraqi civilians traveling in a vehicle that soldiers said had failed to stop as ordered. Other passengers said five people were killed.