Rice calls for patience in Iraq
Ms Rice kicked off her Iraq visit in the northern town of Irbil

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4548393.stm



(Gold9472: The ONLY reason I posted this story is because of that ridiculous picture of Rice suited up.)

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called for patience in Iraq as she made a surprise visit to the country.

"Iraq is emerging from a long national nightmare of tyranny into freedom," she told a news conference in Baghdad.

Ms Rice made the unpublicised visit for talks with Iraq's new government on how to combat the ongoing insurgency.

Ms Rice insisted Iraq's security forces were making progress, but she arrived as the bodies of 34 people, some beheaded, were discovered.

In other developments:

Insurgents freed Raja Nawaf, governor of the western province of Anbar, who was kidnapped on Tuesday

Sheik Qassim al-Gharawi, an aide to Iraq's top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, was shot dead along with his nephew in Baghdad

Four people were killed and at least 15 were injured when two suicide bombers attacked the convoy of Raed Rashid, governor of Diyala province, in the town of Baquba northeast of Baghdad. He escaped unharmed

Gunmen opened fire on a senior industry ministry official as he travelled through the Gazaliya district, in Baghdad, killing him and his driver.
Constitution concerns

Ms Rice said the insurgency could be beaten if Iraqis were offered a "strong political alternative", that a political process, as much as military means, would play its part in defeating the militants.

But she said she was concerned that Sunni Muslims were not taking a full part in that process, and had only token representation on a committee set up to draft a new constitution.

Ms Rice added that the security forces in Iraq were "fighting a tough set of terrorists" and that the US military "will remain active in Iraq until Iraq can defend itself".

Vote of support

Addressing a news conference in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari at her side, Ms Rice expressed support for the new Iraqi government, which was finally formed at the end of April - three months after the election.

"I have great confidence in the leadership that the Iraqi leaders have shown and in the dedication of the Iraqi people", she said.

"Things do not happen overnight," Ms Rice said, reminding people that Iraq had been sovereign for less than a year, and the fledgling government had only been formed in recent weeks.

"It's very hard what the Iraqis are being asked to do which is cast off years and years of tyranny and dictatorship and come to political unity in what is a very complicated place."

Ms Rice is the first senior US figure to visit Iraq since the government was formed. It is also her first visit to Iraq since being promoted to secretary of state earlier this year.

Utmost secrecy

To ensure security, only a handful of state departments knew and Mr Jaafari was only told of the plan on Friday.

Even the pilot flying Ms Rice's plane was not informed who his passenger was until she was safely on board, senior state department adviser Jim Wilkinson said.

Ms Rice's first stop was the city of Irbil in the Kurdish north, where she donned body armour to fly by helicopter for a meeting with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, before heading south to Baghdad.

There Ms Rice addressed US troops and embassy employees, praising their commitment to Iraq.

"We are so grateful that there are Americans willing to sacrifice so the Middle East will be whole, and free and democratic and at peace," she said.

Bodies dumped

Meanwhile Iraqi authorities said they had discovered 34 bodies over the weekend.

They included 13 men dumped in a shallow grave in Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City, each with their hands tied behind their back and at least three bullet wounds to the head.

Eleven other corpses were found in Iskandariya, just south of Baghdad. Four had been beheaded, and at least three were Iraqi soldiers, police said.

And 10 Iraqi soldiers were found dead in the western city of Ramadi on Saturday, the defence ministry said.

More than 400 people have been killed in militant attacks since Iraq's democratically elected government was announced at the end of April.