Rice Appeals to Oil-Rich Kurdish North

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraq's Kurdish region president Massoud Barzani talk to media in Irbil Friday Oct. 6, 2006. Rice visited the autonomous and oil-rich Kurdish north of Iraq on Friday, less than two weeks after the regional government threatened to break away from Iraq in a dispute over oil. (AP Photo) (Str - AP)

IRBIL, Iraq -- Convinced oil revenue is the long-term key to economic independence for a unified Iraq, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed Friday for cooperation from the autonomous and oil rich Kurdish north.

Rice visited the region's powerful president, Massoud Barzani, less than two weeks after the regional government threatened to break away from Iraq in a dispute over oil.

After a session with their staff, followed by a lengthy one-on-one meeting at the Kurdish government offices in Irbil, Rice and Barzani stood in front of U.S. and Kurdish flags and spoke to reporters.

Barzani, speaking in Kurdish through an interpreter, said Kurdistan, "like any other nation, has the right to self-determination." However, he said he is committed to a "federal democratic and pluralistic Iraq."

For her part, Rice thanked Barzani for the Kurds' long cooperation with the United States, adding, "and I appreciate also your important participation in the process of national reconciliation. Thank you."

When he was asked about the future distribution of oil wealth, Barzani did not repeat recent assertions that Kurdistan alone should control new contracts and business arrangements for oil pumped in the region. But at the same time, he gave no endorsement of proposed national legislation on dividing up income from oil.

Rice's two-day trip to Iraq is meant to show U.S. support for the country's fragile central government, under assault by a spiral of sectarian violence and growing calls for autonomy among Iraq's regions.

And while she said the administration is always reviewing its policies in Iraq, she said it would not halt its backing for the country's struggling government.

"The option that the President has been very clear that he is not reviewing is beginning to somehow remove American support for this regime, for this new government in Iraq, before it's able to do the job on its own," she told reporters as they flew to London for a meeting on Iran's nuclear program.

Rice's departure from Irbil was delayed Friday, leaving unclear how much progress would be made at the London session.

Rice had to wait about two hours for a replacement plane because of mechanical problems discovered in the C-17 military transport that was supposed to ferry her to Turkey, where another jet was waiting to fly her to London.

The delay meant Rice would arrive late for a meeting with foreign ministers from Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The group still planned to meet but would be unable to finish its business and refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council on Friday as had been expected, said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, who was traveling with the secretary.