Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq

Amid increased violence in Iraq, SOS Clinton made an unannounced visit to the war-torn country early this morning to re-affirm the US commitment to Iraq’s security:

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Saturday that this week’s deadly suicide bombings in Iraq are a sign that extremists are afraid the Iraqi government is succeeding.

Making her first trip to Iraq as America’s top diplomat, Clinton said the country has made great strides despite the recent violence that killed at least 159 people on Thursday and Friday.

“I think that these suicide bombings … are unfortunately, in a tragic way, a signal that the rejectionists fear that Iraq is going in the right direction,” Clinton told reporters traveling aboard her plane ahead of her unannounced visit to Baghdad.

“I think in Iraq there will always be political conflicts, there will always be, as in any society, sides drawn between different factions, but I really believe Iraq as a whole is on the right track,” she said, citing “overwhelming evidence” of “really impressive” progress.

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Clinton said she would press the Iraqis with U.S. help to create a “nonsectarian security force that will not tolerate either sectarian actions or any kind of armed assault on the people of Iraq.”

She is in Baghdad, following President Barack Obama’s brief visit earlier this month, to assure Iraqi authorities of the administration’s support even as it moves to draw down the U.S. military presence in the country.

“We want the Iraqi people to know that the United States remains committed to helping them navigate through this period and have a better future,” she said, ahead of meetings with al-Maliki, President Jalal Talibani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at Baghdad's International Airport on April 25 2009. SYLVIE LANTEAUME/AFP/Getty Images)

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