US Speaker Pelosi on surprise Iraq visit

[Ron Burgundy]

AFP - The new Democrat speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during an unannounced visit to Baghdad Friday, as bombers killed 15 people in the capital's famous pet market.

Maliki assured Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House, that Baghdad was determined "to assume security missions currently handled by US-led forces in Iraq," and she expressed support for the transfer of responsibilities to Iraqi forces, a statement from Maliki's office said.

Pelosi, 66, "added that she did not oppose any efforts by the American administration (of President George W. Bush) to accelerate the complete transfer of responsibility to Iraqi forces," the statement said.

The California Democrat, known for her strong anti-war stance, is third in line to assume the US presidency, behind Vice President Dick Cheney.

She was accompanied by five other US lawmakers, including John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a decorated Vietnam veteran and another sharp critic of the US presence in Iraq, a Washington official familiar with the trip said.

Others in the delegation included armed forces committee chairman Ike Skelton (news, bio, voting record), foreign affairs committee chairman Tom Lantos (news, bio, voting record) and Silvestre Reyes (news, bio, voting record), who heads the intelligence committee, the official said.

Pelosi is the spearhead of Democratic opposition to Bush, who asked critics of his new Iraqi strategy Tuesday to "give it a chance."

On Friday, Bush said he had issued orders to confront those who target Iraqis or US forces in Iraq, as US and Iraqi officials confirmed tough new tactics against Iranian agents there.

"If somebody's trying to harm our troops, or stop us from achieving our goal, or killing innocent citizens in Iraq, we will stop them," Bush said.

The US Senate, meanwhile, confirmed Lieutenant General David Petraeus as the new commander of US forces in Iraq, replacing General George Casey.

In Baghdad, "the prime minister underscored his government's determination to deal with terrorist groups. This confrontation will not be based solely on military force however, but also on political means," Maliki's office said.

He outlined to Pelosi his plan to quell violence in Baghdad, a necessity underscored by the bombing earlier Friday of the Al-Ghazil market that killed 15 people, the latest in a bombing spree targeting shopping areas that has killed more than 150 people this week.

The Iraqi premier pressed his US guests for help in speeding up "the training and equipping of Iraqi forces with modern weapons.

"The objective of the security plan for Baghdad is to provide security for all in the capital and to target those who break the law, regardless of their confession," the statement said.

It referred to a decision to deploy up to some 35,000 US and 50,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen in Baghdad, which has been wracked by raging sectarian and insurgent violence.

Meanwhile, a bomb hidden in a pigeon carrier box tore through Baghdad's pet market, killing 15 and wounding 35 as it wreaked more havoc in another Baghdad shopping area.

The bombing was another gruesome example of the current trend followed by insurgents to attack markets to inflict as many civilian casualties as possible.

On Thursday, at least 38 people were killed when several bombs hit markets and shopping streets in Baghdad.

Elsewhere on Friday, five more Iraqis were killed in violence, while police in Baghdad discovered 27 bodies bearing bullet wounds.

US and Iraqi authorities stress their new security plan will target militiamen involved in sectarian killing, and its focus was expected to be the Mahdi Army, the armed unit headed by anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

But the district commissioner in the Mahdi Army's stronghold of Sadr City told AFP the militia would disarm if more security was provided for the region to halt regular attacks by Sunni extremists.

In Davos, Switzerland, Jordanian King Abdullah II warned the United States on Friday that "tough decisions" would be necessary if the troop build-up failed to work within six months.

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070126/ts_afp/iraq [link]