By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 18, 2007; A21

BAGHDAD, Feb. 17 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed support for a nascent Baghdad security plan during an unannounced visit to the capital Saturday, but she reminded Iraq's leaders that Americans were growing increasingly frustrated with the unyielding lethality and cost of the war.

Rice spoke approvingly of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's leadership, urged Iraqi officials to enact laws to fairly administer the country's vast oil reserves and acknowledged widespread disapproval of the Bush administration's policies in Iraq among many Americans and U.S. lawmakers.

She arrived in the capital a day after the U.S. House passed a nonbinding resolution rejecting the administration's troop increase in Iraq, where violence has become the norm in the streets and squabbling dominates the political process.

"The American people want to see results and aren't prepared to wait forever," Rice said during a 30-minute conversation with reporters in U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad's living room. "But we're also not saying to the Iraqis: Get it done by X-date, or else. That's not the way one treats a partnership in these difficult circumstances."

Rice met with Maliki and President Jalal Talabani and later had lunch at the U.S. ambassador's residence with a group that included the Kurdish deputy prime minister and the country's foreign minister. She said the Baghdad security plan, which was formally launched this week, was bringing "new hope and a new optimism" to the besieged Iraqi capital. A spokesman for the security plan said attacks have fallen 80 percent since it was launched Wednesday, and there were relatively few reports of violence Saturday.

Ten people were killed and 90 injured in two car bombs in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said, and an improvised explosive device killed one person in Baghdad. The U.S. military announced that a Marine was killed Friday in combat in the western province of Anbar. His name was not released.

Rice praised Maliki for vowing to target lawlessness across sectarian lines.

"Thus far, they seem to be carrying through with the rules of engagement that would suggest that justice and law enforcement is going to be evenhanded," Rice said. "These are the first days of the security plan. It's not going to be one day and then everyone can declare victory . . . There are going to be bad days in the Baghdad security plan when violence is up."

Rice asked insistently about the progress of legislative bills that would regulate the exploration and revenue sharing of the country's oil reserves, according to Iraqi officials who spoke to her.

Iraqi officials tasked with creating a draft law have failed to present a bill to parliament. At stake is the extent to which the central government will control exploration and management of oil fields and whether revenue will be distributed equally across the country.

Iraq's oil reserves are concentrated in the northern Kurdish area and provinces in the predominantly Shiite south.

"I did hear it's almost complete," Rice said about a status report she received on the draft of the bill. "I've heard that it's complete before. And this time, I hope it really is almost complete -- as in complete."

Rice left with a realistic sense of the challenges that lie ahead, said Hoshyar Zebari, Iraq's foreign minister.

"She emphasized a great deal the issue of urgency," Zebari said in a telephone interview Saturday night. Rice stressed to Iraqi leaders that "patience is not unlimited in the United States and that there's a great deal of frustration," he added.

Rice said U.S. officials believe Iranian officials are involved in supplying Iraqi militias with parts to assemble deadly armor-penetrating weapons. But Rice said she did not know to what extent and at what level Iranian officials are complicit in their procurement.

When asked whether she was surprised by the skepticism that followed assertions last week by U.S. military briefers in Baghdad that Iranian weapons were being provided to Shiite militias in Iraq, Rice responded, "It's America, it's a democracy. And everything is greeted with questioning and skepticism . . . We understand there's still the shadow of what happened about weapons of mass destruction here."

Rice arrived at the Baghdad airport at 11:30 a.m. and arrived minutes later at the fortified Green Zone, where embassy and military personnel were gathered at a large meeting hall inside the former national guard palace, which was converted into the interim U.S. Embassy after Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was overthrown in 2003.

Standing behind a lectern flanked by an Iraqi and a U.S. flag, Rice told those present that their work is "noble" and "necessary" to keep the United States safe. She acknowledged the fierce opposition in Washington to President Bush's decision to send 21,500 additional troops to Iraq in what many see as a last-ditch effort to secure the country and lay the groundwork for a sustainable democracy.

"Some do not think this war was the right war to fight," she said. "Some believe we in the administration haven't fought it quite right."

But she assured the group there is unequivocal support for the troops.

Rice was accompanied by Karen Hughes, the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs. Hughes, a close friend of Bush, had not previously visited Iraq.

Rice and Hughes were shuttled around the Green Zone in heavily armored vehicles, trailed by dozens of security guards. While Rice met with Maliki and Talabani, Hughes attended a musical performance at the al-Rashid Hotel, inside the Green Zone. Neither spent time outside the secured compound.

After her stop in Baghdad, Rice flew to Israel for a three-day visit to try to nurture a new effort to promote peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Her mission has been complicated by a new Palestinian unity government that brings the moderate Fatah party into a government led by the radical Hamas group.

Rice will bring the Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for a meeting Monday, but both sides appeared to be jockeying for position ahead of the summit. Before having dinner with Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni hardened Israel's stance on the emerging government, saying "the understandings" between Hamas and Fatah "do not meet the requirements of the international community."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also took a tough line, telling a U.S. envoy Saturday that the power-sharing agreement he reached was the best he could get and that an international aid boycott must be lifted, Palestinians said.

Staff writer Glenn Kessler in Jerusalem and special correspondents Waleed Saffar and Naseer Nouri in Baghdad contributed to this report.