BAGHDAD: US Defense Secretary Robert Gates met Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki on Tuesday, on a visit to urge Iraq’s communities to settle political differences before US troops leave by the end of 2011.
Gates, on a previously unannounced mission, was also expected to discuss supplying Iraq with weapons and equipment to help the Baghdad government provide its own security after the departure of US troops. After arriving at a US base south of Baghdad, Gates and General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in Iraq, met with Maliki in the Iraqi capital and were later to hold talks with the defense and interior ministers.
Gates planned to appeal to Arab and Kurdish officials to take advantage of the window of the US troop presence to resolve disputes over power-sharing, internal boundaries and oil revenues, a senior US defense official said.
“The feedback I got here is that the agreement has changed the chemistry of the relationship ... in a positive way,” Gates told reporters after flying in to Iraq. “Nobody’s the boss or the occupier or however you want to put it, but there’s a real sense of empowerment by the Iraqis.”
Earlier, the senior defense official said that among the possible hardware on Baghdad’s wish list were F-16 fighter planes, as Iraq looks to build up a modern air force.
Gates, who visited Israel and Jordan on Monday, also planned to take a first-hand look at how the US military has been preparing to adapt to a new mission focused on advising and supporting Iraqi security forces. “Less than a month into it, I’m really heartened,” Gates said of the US-Iraq accord, noting that he was encouraged by cooperation between Iraqi forces and US troops after the pullback. During his two-day visit Gates was to travel to the Kurdish region after his talks with Maliki.
The US military is gradually drawing down in Iraq under the security agreement with Baghdad, but carrying out the accord has caused some friction between the remaining 128,000 American troops and Iraqi security forces.
An Iraqi officer ordered the detention of US soldiers this month after they shot dead three Iraqis while pursuing insurgents.
