Rice says start of security operation in Baghdad ”very impressive”

On an unannounced visit to Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said a new US-led security operation appeared to have gotten off to a good start in Baghdad but she called on Iraqi leaders to do more to end the sectarian divides behind the violence.

According to AFP, Rice called early evidence of the Iraqi government’s commitment to the joint security offensive targeting sectarian militia and anti-US insurgents “very impressive.” “The Baghdad security plan is just beginning to unfold and its important to realize it was never intended to be a single day, it was intended to ramp up over time,” Rice told reporters accompanying her on the trip.

Rice’s visit came on the fourth day of the security drive, code-named “Law and Order,” designed to staunch sectarian violence and anti-US insurgent attacks, mainly in the Iraqi capital. In Baghdad, there has been little organized resistance to the new security operation.

 

“It’s too early to expect there to have been real results from the plan, but I want to make certain that everybody feels that were getting the right input,” she said.