Rice in Iraq after "open war" threat

[Joanne98]

Source: Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday, a day after Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened to launch an "open war" against the U.S.-backed government.

Six people were killed in overnight clashes between Sadr's gunmen and U.S. and Iraqi forces in the cleric's East Baghdad enclave, the sprawling Sadr City slum, police said.

Rice praised Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's security efforts and said that she was in Iraq to help promote reconciliation among factions.

Maliki launched a crackdown on Sadr's followers last month that has led to the worst fighting in Iraq in nearly a year at a time when the United States is bringing home extra troops sent under last year's "surge" strategy.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL0434078820080420

---

That was fast.

[dommyluc]

1. Jeez

Oh, yeah. It's always a good sign when Condi goes back to the Middle East. Couldn't she just go shopping for some flaming red Jimmy Choo come-fuck-me pumps instead? A lot less people would die.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

2. CSPIN said she is there to CELEBRATE and SOLIDIFY the recent gains.

I ask you. WHAT RECENT GAINS?

Have I missed something? what the fuck?

[maddezmom]

4. not just CSPIN

Rice visits Iraq, intending to trumpet political gains By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
8 minutes ago



BAGHDAD - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Iraq to promote fresh political gains she says are flowing from government-led assaults on radical militias.

Rice's brief heavily guarded visit Sunday was not announced in advance, in keeping with security precautions adopted by all top U.S. officials who remain targets of the anti-American insurgents five years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The top U.S. diplomat was meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his Kurdish president and other top officials. She was also honoring Americans killed in the Green Zone, the heavily protected compound that houses the U.S. embassy and much of the Iraqi central government.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080420/ap_on_re_mi_ea/rice_16

[DrZeeLit]

3. Would Bush sacrifice Rice's life for a win in November? Ya think?

I'm just sayin'

[Mika]

9. Never. There's more hard work to do.

[Solly Mack]

5. Wonder if she chairs a torture team there as well

[skepticscott]

6. Thank goodness!

I was afraid they might send someone incompetent..that would have sucked.

Oh...wait..

[Botany]

8. Come cut Condi a break .... look @ what she has accomplished

9/11 .... never mind

smoking gun = mushroom cloud .... never mind

being a "check" to Rummy & Cheney's insane rush to war .... never mind

Israel's fight in Lebanon .... never mind

getting bin Laden .... never mind

helping to keep together an international coalition to fight in Iraq .... never mind

Aug. 6th P.D.B. .... never mind

Keeping Iraq's Oil from being stolen .... never mind

Well she does like nice shoes.

[libodem]

7. I wish just one

of those bushit bastards would be in the crossfire! Slippery, slimy eels.

[Adsos Letter]

10. Did she bring a trunk full of greenbacks with her?

[icnorth]

11. Nope.

She was packing heat.

[Ilsa]

12. "...she was in Iraq to help promote reconciliation among factions..."

:wow:
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[maddezmom]

13. In surprise visit to Iraq, Rice taunts Shiite cleric

In surprise visit to Iraq, Rice taunts Shiite cleric
Secretary questions al-Sadr's threat to end truce
By Ned Parker

April 21, 2008

BAGHDAD

After long treating radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia gingerly, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ridiculed him yesterday as a man who asks his followers to fight to the death while he resides in safety in Iran.

Al-Sadr, who threatened Saturday to declare a formal end to a cease-fire he announced in August, was also described by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker as running a weakened military organization.

The taunting comments came during an unannounced visit by Rice to the Iraqi capital, in which she praised an ongoing nationwide crackdown against armed militias led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his government security forces. Most of the fighting has been directed at elements of al-Sadr's militia, but until yesterday, American officials had taken pains to separate al-Sadr from his more radical followers, who the U.S. claims receives training and arms from Iran.

At least 700 people have died in the fighting in southern Iraq and Baghdad since the government offensive was launched last month.


more:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/iraq/bal-te.iraq21apr21,0,2373424,print.story

Is this Condi's Bring it on speech? :eyes:

[donkeyotay]

14. It does bring a new standard to hypocrisy when the White House Iraq Group

can taunt al-Sadr for sending others to death from the comfort of a safe office. That's just about the defining characteristic of bush's merry band of neocons.

[Supersedeas]

15. the surge is definitely a success....definitely