Pelosi urges political reconciliation in suprise Iraq visit
Jan 26 10:06 PM US/Eastern



The new Democrat speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, made a surprise visit to Baghdad where she urged Iraqi leaders to pursue political solutions to end spiraling sectarian violence.

But US and Iraqi officials announced tough new tactics to starve sectarian violence of outside support with US forces now targeting Iranian agents in Iraq for capture or killing.

Despite US and Iraqi efforts to increase security in the capital, bombers on Friday killed 15 people in Baghdad's famous pet market.

Pelosi, 66, the first female Speaker of the House who is known for her strong anti-war stance, arrived in Baghdad along with several other senior Democratic lawmakers.

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

But in meetings with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US officials she advocated the Iraqis reaching political solutions rather than relying on a surge in US troops to end sectarian violence.

"The sooner Iraqi leaders make necessary political accommodations, including amending their constitution to resolve outstanding differences among all Iraqi communities, the better the chances for ending the sectarian violence," the lawmakers said in a statement released by Pelosi's office after the meetings.

They said that in their meetings they stressed their belief that Iraqis must take "primary responsibility" for the country's security.

"The delegation's view is that American forces should quickly begin to transition from a combat role to one focused on training, counter-terrorism, force protection, and controlling Iraq's borders."

Maliki assured Pelosi the that Baghdad was determined "to assume security missions currently handled by US-led forces in Iraq," but asked that the training and equipping of Iraqi forces with modern weapons be speeded up, a statement from his office said.

The California Democrat is second in line to assume the US presidency, behind Vice President Dick Cheney.

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

Bush said on Friday 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.

At the same time, Bush said as he met with Petraeus that it would be wrong to think that such efforts mean a coming war with Iran.

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Washington had made clear it fears that Iran was supplying Shiite Iraqi insurgents with technology to make sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to attack US forces.

"We have every right to go after those Iranian paramilitary intelligence agents engaged in this activity inside Iraq," Burns told reporters.

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

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

"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.

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.

All of this reminds me of grade school where the teacher quizzed all of the students on our addition tables. Should you decide to add all of the articles pertaining to Iran in any particular order the common denominator from the United States would be violence, as far as our wonderful leader is concerned. Violence begets violence. It gives new meaning to the persona of our illustrious leader of the "United" States. When is enough of bullying enough. There is not going to be any redemption for America in the eyes of the international community should the plotted path be allowed to make any more gains. However, our republican leader is nothing if not headstrong and "intelligent". How many times must the same mistake be made in order to regain equilibrium? Balance is a delicate action which is essential to any meaningful dialogue with anyone even family members. Although, it is dependent upon the role models on which you choose to uphold. Well, I guess the Katrina comment by the maternal role model displayed a great deal of the delicacy of manners our "chosen" leader was exposed to during childhood. Why should anyone expect him to outshine his own guidance? Pelosi is trying to ensure that the divided factions realize that working together would allow Iraq to become self-sufficient and head towards greater strides as a whole nation. If I can remember correctly, this was one of the main issues regarding the aftermath of the brief war. Now, civil war reigns supreme. Partly due to conditions being worse than when Saddam was reigning. There is so much division and chaos, it shall be interesting to see if the Iraqi people can learn to trust again.