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| Iraq |
| Rice and Straw make surprise visit to Iraq |
| 2006-04-02 |
| EFL US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her British counterpart Jack Straw make a surprise visit to Iraq, carrying a sharp message of international impatience with delays in the formation of a new government. "I would assume that the fact that we are going out to have these discussions with the leadership is a sign of the urgency that we attach to the need for a government of national unity," she told reporters. The weather forced the two top diplomats to take road transport under high security on the dangerous road between the airport and the heavily guarded Green Zone where they immediately plunged into talks with Iraqi officials. Straw pointedly recalled the heavy investment the United States and Britain had made in Iraq in lives and resources since the March 2003 invasion to topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. Asked whether the involvement could be sustained without greater effort from the Iraqis on the political front, he said, "We're committed to Iraq, very committed. But we need to see progress." Rice and Straw were to confer with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and other leaders whose attempts to form a permanent government were stalled three and a half months after landmark legislative elections. US officials have repeatedly called establishment of a government bringing in majority Shiite Muslims, Kurds and minority Sunnis, the key to their exit strategy for the eventual withdrawal of some 130,000 US troops in Iraq. But the Iraqis have been squabbling over Jaafari's bid to stay on as prime minister as the candidate of the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, which controls nearly half the seats in the 275-member parliament. The discontent has now spread to Jaafari's own party, with several members for the first time at the weekend openly calling for the prime minister to step down so as to ease the arduous negotiations. Leaders of four of the seven parties in the alliance have expressed their reservations over Jaafari's candidacy and have given him the next few days to placate his opposition or they will remove their support. Kurdish and Sunnis leaders are opposed to Jaafari, arguing he has been unable to contain Iraq's raging insurgency and is too sectarian for a country seeking to avoid collapsing into a civil war. Media reports have suggested that US President George W. Bush was seeking an alternative to Jaafari. But Rice and Straw insisted they had no intention of taking sides in the jockeying for power in Baghdad. "We'll recognize and respect whoever emerges as a leader through this system," Straw said. "Our concern, however, is that they (the Iraqis) have to make swift progress to secure a leader." The two chief diplomats also urged quick resolution of a dispute between Shiite and Sunni leaders over who would land the all-important job of supervising security forces in the troubled Gulf state. The Iraqis appeared to have taken a large step towards settlement of the issue by announcing Saturday an agreement to put security in the hands of a committee that would be headed by the prime minister and his deputy. The trip was Rice's third here since she became secretary of state in January 2005 and the third for Straw this year. Officials said the ministers had been speaking about a joint trip for two weeks and finalized plans only last Tuesday. Officials acknowledged that it was a gamble to stage such a high-profile meeting at a critical time in the political process. Bush has been lobbying for domestic support for his policies but Rice gave critics new ammunition on Friday when she said Washington had made "thousands" of tactical errors in Iraq. She said Saturday she was only speaking "figuratively." |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #1 Yes, thousands of tactical errors. I think that the MSM could get the Bush Administration's attention if they showed how helpful they can be in reducing mistakes in other arenas. First, they could work on baseball. Even the greatest hitters of all time are a joke, only able to get a hit around 40 percent of the time. With 24/7 coverage , there should be no trouble raising batting averages to at least 60-70 percent (that is, a D or a C). Next, they should work on pro golfers. Those over-rated chokers sometimes miss putts of UNDER 2 FEET, when HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars are at stake! The MSM should have no trouble raising the putting average to 90 percent for all putts within 10 feet. Then those uninformed, single-minded droids in the White House will have to pay attention and within two years, Islam and the West will be reconciled to a life of mutual respect, peace, and prosperity. |
| Posted by: Perfessor 2006-04-02 16:28 |