Rice Touts Need For Agreement On Iraqi Government
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (left) shakes hands with Secretary of State Rice during her surprise visit today (epa)
Rice was speaking to reporters while flying to Baghdad today, accompanied by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. She and Straw
later met in Baghdad with President Jalal Talabani, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, and other leading officials.
Rice said the surprise visit is a sign of the urgency the United States and Britain attach to the formation of a government.
Negotiations on a new government have stalled amid ongoing sectarian violence, and Sunni and Kurdish opposition to al-Ja'fari continuing in office as prime minister for another term.
(AFP, AP)