Rice: Time is running out
2006-04-02 20:20
Baghdad - US secretary of state
Condoleezza Rice told Iraqi leaders on Sunday time was running
out to form a new government.
"The Iraqi people are losing patience," Rice said after
meeting Sunni, Shia and Kurdish leaders during a surprise trip
to Baghdad with British foreign secretary Jack Straw.
"What is more, your international allies want to see this
done," Rice said she had told Iraqi leaders in back-to-back
meetings that ended with a dinner.
Rice and Straw came on a joint visit, kept secret in
advance, to try to break a deadlock over forming a unity
government but the top US diplomat tried to dampen
expectations of a breakthrough soon.
"We are not going to leave here with a government.
That is
not the purpose of this," Rice told a news briefing of US-based
reporters travelling with her.
The top US diplomat said Iraqi leaders had defended
themselves by saying their work in recent weeks had been
underestimated.
The United States has more than 130 000 troops in Iraq.
More
than 2 000 have been killed since the US-led invasion in March
2003.
'Treasure' at stake
With pressure growing at home for US troops to leave and
with a November congressional election approaching, the Bush
administration is working harder to push the stalled political
process forward in Iraq.
Rice said she made clear to the Iraqis that the United
States, Britain and others involved in the war effort had a lot
of "treasure" at stake.
"I did explain that given the sacrifice, people expect that
process to continue and it can't now get stuck at the most
important stage," she said.
One of the most tense meetings was with Prime Minister
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who the United States believes is part of
the problem in reaching agreement on a new government.
Senior figures in Jaafari's own Shi'ite Alliance bloc broke
ranks and called on him to quit a day before Rice arrived, and
several US officials say privately it would be better if he
left.
Rice stopped far short of saying Jaafari should quit, but
she said whoever was prime minister should be able to form a new
government.
"Maybe he (Jaafari) will be able to do it, but the urgency is
that whoever is going to be the prime minister is actually able
to bring enough of the other votes on board," she said.