Rice in Baghdad on surprise Green Zone visit

by Lachlan Carmichael Sun Apr 20, 7:19 AM ET

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Baghdad's Green Zone on Sunday on a surprise visit to Iraq where she said she saw improved security and political grouping in the centre which should attract Arab support and blunt Iran's influence.

"I see a coalescing of a centre in Iraqi politics in which the Sunnis, the Kurdish leadership and the elements of the Shiite leadership that are not associated with these 'special groups' (alleged Iranian backed groups) have been working better than at any time before."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, speaking as he and Rice began their talks, said that "security had improved" in the country, to which Rice replied she had noticed "the road had widened."

Speaking on the flight from Washington to the Iraqi capital, Rice said she had wanted to visit the heavily fortified Green Zone to show her gratitude to US personnel who have braved recent rocket fire.

"They have stood fast and been tough in pretty difficult circumstances over the last few weeks."

Two American government officials and two US soldiers have been killed in the intensive rocket and mortar fire, which began on March 21. Two Iraqi guards of Sunni Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi have also been killed in the attacks.

Rice last stopped over in Baghdad on January 15, when she praised "remarkable" political progress in Iraq, saying it represented a time of hope for the country.

She was followed in mid-March to Iraq by Vice President Dick Cheney who vowed the US would stay the course in Iraq as he urged Arab states to open full diplomatic ties with Baghdad if they want to counter Iranian influence.

Rice arrived this time echoing Cheney's message.

"The neighbours could do more to live up to their obligations because I do believe the Iraqis are beginning to live up to theirs," Rice told reporters on her plane, urging Sunni Arab leaders to send their diplomats back to Baghdad and ease Iraq's debt load.

Her call came as hardline Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened on Saturday to declare "open war" if the crackdown by Iraqi and US forces against his loyalists is not stopped.

However, speaking before her plane stopped to refuel in Shannon, Ireland, Rice said security has improved and that Maliki is acting on Arab calls to reconcile Iraq's Sunni and Shiite Arabs as well as Kurds.

Since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Iraq's Sunni leader Saddam Hussein, its Arab neighbours have worried not only about violence there but also about backing a government tilted towards non-Arab Shiite Iran.

She urged the Arabs to take special encouragement from Maliki's decision to crack down last month on Iranian-backed Shiite militias, even though it has produced a spike in violence.

"At some point Arab states need to take yes for an answer in terms of... Iraq's commitment to its Arab identity," Rice said.

Rice will press her point further in face-to-face talks with her Arab counterparts in both Bahrain on Monday and Kuwait on Tuesday.