Well, I guess since Rumsfeld’s lecture didn’t work, those recalcitrant Iraqis are in for a real scolding now. Team Bush is sending in the Big Nanny:
ARBIL : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Iraq to bolster the country’s fledgling government just hours after US troops announced an end to a campaign to rout insurgents near the Syrian border.
As her visit got underway, the discovery of more bodies and a new string of attacks in Iraq underlined the severity of a security situation that has seen hundreds killed this month alone.
Rice arrived in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil on a C-17 military plane from Qatar. She had flown from Washington in utter secrecy, with only a few aides informed of the trip.
So, Rice sneaks into Arbil to lecture the Kurds, first:
The secretary of state flew immediately to Salahuddin, near Arbil, where she was to meet with the Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani, in a convoy of Blackhawk helicopters with Apache escorts.
Then, it’s on to Baghdad for the Shiites’ spanking:
Rice also was slated to meet with Iraq Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and senior cabinet members at 3:00 pm (1100 GMT) in Baghdad before holding a press conference.
On the agenda: Stop de-Baathing all the Sunnis and get tough with the resistance.
“I think it is something that I would like to discuss with the leadership, the composition of that committee, and how (…) they can ensure that there is participation of all Iraqis, including Sunnis, in this process.”
[…]
Rice was unfazed by the wave of violence that has left 400 civilians dead since the start of the month, saying it was an attempt by insurgents to derail the political process and to respond to a major offensive launched against them by Iraqi security forces.“To defeat them by having a political alternative that is strong,” Rice said the Iraqis were now “going to have to intensify their efforts to demonstrate that the political process is the answer for the Iraqi people.”
There was a major offensive launched by Iraqi security forces? I guess the press didn’t get the memo. Ah, well, it’s just diplo-speak for stop embarrassing us with all these car bombs and assassinations! Start cracking heads like a real government!
UPDATE: Here’s an explanation of the committee to which Rice refers above, by Chris Albritton.