Two top U.S. foreign- policy officials paid a surprise visit to Iraq last week. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad, Iraq's capital, on Wednesday for two days of talks. They wanted to show support for Iraq's newly named prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
After months of debate, Iraqi leaders chose al-Maliki on April 22 to lead the country for the next four years. He will have the difficult job of forming a government that represents all of the Iraqi people.
Al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, told Rice and Rumsfeld that his first priority is to address mistrust among Iraq's ethnic and religious groups. Most Iraqis belong to one of three groups: Kurds, Sunni Muslim Arabs or Shiite Muslim Arabs. They have a history of fighting with one another.
Rice said she found al-Maliki's goals "refreshing and really heartening." Administration officials hope that Iraq's new government will be able to stabilize the country and prevent a civil war. A stable Iraq would allow the U.S. to reduce the number of U.S. forces in the war zone. There are currently about 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.
"There is no question that as the new government is formed, it's appropriate for us to begin discussions about the pace at which we'll be able to turn over responsibility," Rumsfeld said.