Rice and Rumsfeld visit Iraq and meet leaders
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met with Iraqi leaders including Jawad al-Maliki, the Shi'ite selected to be prime minister in a development the US hailed as evidence of substantial progress.
"I came away most encouraged," Mr Rumsfeld said after a private meeting with Mr al-Maliki.
Ms Rice offered praise as well, saying: "I found him to be very focused.
"It's very clear that he understood his role and the role of the new government to really demonstrate that there's a government of national unity."
The meeting also occurred just after army general George Casey, the top US military commander, said that the selection of top government leaders marked a major step towards creating conditions that could allow a partial withdrawal of US troops.
"I'm still on my general timeline," Gen Casey said after meeting with Mr Rumsfeld, who arrived unannounced for a day-long series of meetings with top US commanders and the newly selected Iraqi leaders.
Ms Rice said: "We just want to make sure there are no seams between what we're doing politically and what we're doing militarily."
However, the backdrop of violence continued as US forces, backed by a helicopter and jets, attacked a safe house being used by suspected foreign insurgents in Iraq, killing 12 militants and a woman, the US military said.
The attack occurred yesterday in Youssifiyah, 20km south of Baghdad, an area near where a US Apache helicopter crashed, killing its two pilots, on April 1 in an apparent attack by militants.
The militant al-Rashideen Army claimed responsibility for that attack, and Al-Jazeera TV aired footage provided by the insurgents which they claimed showed parts of the wreckage.
In other violence yesterday including the bombing of a passenger minibus six Iraqis and two insurgents were killed. Police also said they found the bodies of 10 Iraqis who had been tortured and killed.
Mr Rumsfeld said the United Nations Security Council resolution that forms the legal basis for US operations to stabilise and rebuild Iraq is to expire at the end of the year so there will have to be talks with the Iraqi government on arrangements beyond that.
With recent calls by several retired generals for Mr Rumsfeld to resign, when asked whether this visit would be his last trip to Iraq as Pentagon chief, he replied with one word: "No."
Mr Rumsfeld's visit to Iraq coincides with a recent surge in American casualties, which are on pace this month to hit the highest total since last November, when 84 US troops died in Iraq.
