Cheney discusses solutions for Iraq

BAGHDAD – Vice President Dick Cheney and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki acknowledged problems in the pace of reducing violence in Iraq on Wednesday, but both pledged their governments would continue working together toward a solution.\nThe Iraqi leader said he and Cheney discussed “practical steps ... to support our efforts working on both the security front as well as the domestic political issues.” He and Cheney made brief remarks to reporters, with al-Maliki speaking through an interpreter.\nAl-Maliki is coming under increasing pressure from Washington to demonstrate progress in easing sectarian violence, and Cheney’s unannounced visit to Iraq was depicted by U.S. officials as an attempt to press al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to do more to achieve reconciliation among factions.\nCheney said he and al-Maliki “talked about the way ahead in terms of our mutual efforts to help build an Iraq that is safe and secure, is self-governing and free of the threats of the insurgency and al-Qaida.”\nEarlier, Cheney got a firsthand briefing on conditions in Iraq and the effectiveness of the U.S. military buildup from the top U.S. commander in Iraq.\n“There’s a lot going on. This is a very important time. There’s a lot to talk about,” Cheney said as he met with Gen. David Petraeus and the new U.S. ambassador here, Ryan Crocker.\nPetraeus said recently that conditions in Iraq may get harder before they get easier and will require “an enormous commitment” over time by the United States.\nCheney made Iraq the first stop on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will also include stops in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. The Baghdad stop had not been announced publicly.\nCheney also met with Iraq’s Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, Sunni and Shiite vice presidents, and other government and political leaders.\nAides said the vice president wanted to emphasize that ending the conflict in Iraq cannot done by military means alone and that his mission was to get a sense of the situation on the ground in Iraq and to deliver a message that more work is needed on the political front to overcome divisions and \ndelays.\nThe visit follows a secure video conference earlier this week between al-Maliki and President Bush about the need to move forward on legislation to help repair the rift between majority-party Shiite Arabs and minority Sunni Arabs.\nSunni legislators have been threatening to pull out of the government.\nCheney also was likely to renew a U.S. request that the Iraqi parliament not take a scheduled two-month break during these troubling times, said Crocker.\n“For the Iraqi parliament to take a two-month vacation in the middle of summer is impossible to understand,” said Crocker, who traveled with Cheney from Washington. He has only been on the job since March.\nCheney’s message with Iraqi leaders, according to a senior administration official who briefed reporters, was to be: “We’ve all got challenges together. We’ve got to pull together. We’ve got to get this work done. It’s game time.”\nThe official spoke on condition of anonymity since he talked before Cheney’s meetings and did not want to upstage the vice president.