Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Iraq on Friday morning for a daylong visit to review Iraq security forces and meet with Iraqi and American leaders. The visit was not announced publicly in advance for security reasons. His first stop was to be at a combat surgical hospital to meet wounded soldiers.Rumsfeld's visit came a day after a remotely detonated car bomb exploded in Baghdad on Thursday, killing two Iraqis but missing a U.S. military convoy as insurgent violence claimed more than 50 lives. Clashes between Iraqi police and rebels erupted along a major highway southeast of the capital.
Rumsfeld is the most senior U.S. official to arrive in Iraq since the nation's elections on Jan. 30. Rumsfeld's spokesman Larry di Rita said the purpose of the trip was ``to recognize the great success of the elections.''
Rumsfeld arrived from France, where he met with NATO defense ministers and discussed ways to increase their contributions to the U.S.-led efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In December, Rumsfeld made a surprise Christmas Eve visit to U.S. troops in Mosul, where he met many of the victims of an insurgent attack on a mess tent that had been bombed several days earlier. He also shared a Christmas Eve dinner with troops at a base outside of Baghdad and, amid tight security, visited others in Tikrit.