US calls for Iraqi unity amid violence

BAGHDAD—The United States will stay committed to what it hopes will be an inclusive Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday, but violence flared even as she touched down in the Iraqi capital. Rice made an unannounced visit, her second to Iraq this year, during which she said she wanted help ease the sectarian tensions that have dominated the campaign for a parliamentary election on December 15.
Three Iraqi policemen on patrol were wounded when a car bomb exploded in a central area of Baghdad within minutes of Rice’s touching down in a military helicopter in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone. Rice flew in from Bahrain to the northern city of Mosul, scene of violence between Sunni Arabs and Kurds, and said her goal was to urge Iraqis to bridge sectarian and ethnic divisions and create a single country where all felt “fully protected.”
“I want to talk about the importance of reaching across the sectarian divide, and the future of Iraq has to be one which includes everyone,” added Rice, who is in the region as part of a visit to the Middle East and Asia. She added Washington would support no particular candidate next month, despite complaints from some that U.S. officials are working behind the scenes to favor certain groupings.Sectarian tension between Saddam Hussein’s once-dominant Sunni Arab minority and the Shi’ite- and Kurdish-led government have dominated the election campaign. Rice’s visit came as U.S. public and congressional support wanes for the U.S.-led war in which more than 2,000 troops have died and many thousands more have been wounded. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed or wounded in daily acts of violence. “Here in Iraq we are going to stay committed because the Iraqis are fine and brave and courageous people,” Rice told reporters traveling with her in Mosul.
A makeshift bomb was detonated as a military fuel convoy drove along the main road between Mosul and Kirkuk, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, on Friday. Witnesses said two U.S. soldiers appeared to have been killed but the military had no word on casualties. U.S.-led forces are trying to quell a bloody rebellion by Sunni Arab insurgents and foreign fighters. “They’re still able to mount spectacular attacks but day by day we see less,” Rice said in Mosul. Washington fears that the marginalisation of the Sunnis, many of whom opposed last month’s referendum on a new constitution, would fuel the insurgency and further destabilize the country.—Agencies