Protest at Biden's Iraq trip
2009-07-03 16:02
Baghdad - A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of US vice-president Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shi’ite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.
Biden met General Ray Odierno, the top US officer in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, Washington's ambassador in Baghdad, who briefed him on the military and political situation, three days after a major US troop pullback.
The vice-president's trip, aimed at bridging Iraq's sectarian divide ahead of a complete American military pullout in 2011, comes just after President Barack Obama gave Biden the task to oversee the US departure.
A stark reminder of the legacy inherited by Obama's administration, however, came in Sadr City, where hundreds of supporters of Sadr, who is in self-imposed exile, chanted anti-US slogans.
Timeline
The White House said Biden would visit American troops, now stationed on the outskirts of Iraqi cities following their June 30 withdrawal from urban centres.
It also said talks with political leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, will renew the US commitment to complete the terms of a security deal signed between the two governments in November last year that set a timeline for the US military exit.
It is Biden's first trip to Iraq since he was sworn in as vice-president in January, but he previously made several trips when he was chairperson of the Senate foreign relations committee.
The White House said Biden would work closely with Odierno and Hill, as US forces prepare to leave the country for good, ending a military engagement that started with the 2003 invasion ordered by Obama's predecessor, George W Bush.
- AFP