Iraq's embattled Shiite prime minister flew into the western city of Ramadi yesterday, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency, on a mission to build ties between the country's bitterly divided sects.
The unannounced visit came as the Pentagon confirmed reports that Washington is considering pulling US troops out of Iraq if its current "surge" strategy fails to quell raging sectarian violence engulfing Baghdad.
"I haven't been to Ramadi since 1976," said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, on his first visit to Anbar Province since his election last year, and a trip hailed by US commanders as a vital step toward peace.
PHOTO: AFP
"I love this province and I'm proud that it's part of Iraq," he said, after meeting Anbar Governor Maamun Sami Rashid in a palace of former president of Saddam Hussein that is now inside a joint US and Iraqi military base.
Maliki -- accompanied by his defence and interior ministers -- and his host the governor vowed to work together to combat al-Qaeda insurgents who have been fighting in Anbar since the March 2003 US-led invasion.
US commanders said they were delighted that Maliki had made the Ramadi trip, seeing it as a concrete sign that his Shiite-led government is serious about making peace with Anbar's Sunni leaders, many of whom have turned against the insurgency.
"It's very exciting to have the prime minister in Anbar," said US Brigadier General John Allen. "It shows that nothing's impossible."
Maliki's party arrived from a nearby air base on US army Blackhawk choppers, escorted by Apache gunships, and held a day of meetings with Anbari leaders and tribal sheikhs, including some of those now fighting al-Qaeda.
Many Sunnis distrust or oppose Maliki's Shiite-led government, feeding support for the insurgency, and a US diplomat dubbed the talks as "historic."
The new US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, was also in Ramadi yesterday, touring US and Iraqi units fighting al-Qaeda in almost daily street battles in the city, much of which lies in ruins.
Ramadi has been a symbol of the failure of the US military and the Iraqi government to assert their will among the fiercely-independent Sunni tribes living in the arid deserts west of Baghdad.
US and Iraqi troops, meanwhile, pushed on with an intensive drive to secure Baghdad as the White House confirmed a possible pullout of US soldiers from Iraq if its "surge" strategy fails.
The US military is deploying additional troops in Baghdad and Anbar in support of the new security plan called Operation Fardh al-Qanoon (Imposing Law), which has already seen the deployment of about 90,000 Iraqi and US soldiers in Baghdad.
US President George W. Bush at the weekend approved the sending of another 2,400 soldiers and 2,200 military police, who he said would support the 21,500 extra troops he has already announced.
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe on Monday cited Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as saying it would be irresponsible for the US not to have considered a fallback plan if the escalation in troop levels fails to achieve the goal of quelling violence in Iraq.
"Gates addressed this last week, that it would be negligent not to be thinking about various possible outcomes for the future," he said.
Gates and Petraeus, "have addressed this repeatedly. We're focused on the current plan that is just getting started. It will take several months before we are able to assess results," he said.
Seven people were killed in Iraq yesterday, while the US military announced two militants planting a roadside bomb were killed by a rocket fired from a US helicopter.
The military also announced the arrest of seven people they say are linked to suicide bombing attacks which killed around 120 Shiite pilgrims last week.
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