Rice and Rumsfeld Visit Iraq

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld met with Iraqi leaders on Wednesday, expressing their support and also attracting some criticism because of their unannounced visit.

The 2 visited Baghdad to encourage the designated Prime Minister, Jawad al-Maliki, appointed after 4 months of discussions. The sectarian violence ignited in February, when a Shi'ite shrine was bombed, raised fears of civil war and threatened Bush's hopes to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.

American officials hope to reduce the 132 500 troops in Iraq to about 100 000 by the end of the year or even 75,000 if the situation will take a positive turn. Britain also hopes to reduce its force from 7 500 to about 5 000 by the end of 2006. The Pentagon said Iraqi forces were not ready to take control yet and that a timescale for pulling out U.S. troops cannot be yet established.

"We just want to make sure there are no seams between what we're doing politically and what we're doing militarily. Secretary Rumsfeld and I are going to be there together because a lot of the work that has to be done is at that juncture between political and military," Rice said about her visit.

After lunch with Rumsfeld and American ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Rice also met with the Shi'ite Islamist Nuri al-Maliki. The latter swore to appoint ministers to represent all Iraq's communities and won the sympathy of the Sunni minority.

"There is no question but that as the new government is formed and the ministers are in place, that it's appropriate for us to begin discussions with the new government about the conditions on the ground and the pace at which we'll be able to turn over responsibility in the provinces," Rumsfeld stated at a press conference.