Rice, in Detour From Bush Trip, Visits Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan. 15 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice used an unscheduled visit here Tuesday to laud Iraqi leaders for making progress on a set of political recommendations established by the United States to help the country bridge its sectarian divide. But she also stressed that more progress was necessary.

In a 20-minute news conference in the heavily fortified Green Zone, Rice said the recent passage of a law intended to make it easier for former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party to return to civil service jobs would encourage Iraqi unity despite its potential shortcomings.

"This law, the 'accountability and justice law,' is clearly a step forward for national reconciliation," she said. "It is clearly a step forward for healing the wounds of the past."

The law seeks to address the Bush administration's controversial decision in 2003 to force most Baath Party members, who were largely Sunni Muslims, out of government jobs. The decree helped give rise to the Sunni insurgency that continues to this day.

Some Shiite and Sunni lawmakers said the law would allow thousands of former low-level Baath officials to return to their government jobs. But critics, mostly hard-line Sunni lawmakers, say the measure could actually force out some former Baathists still working in the government.

"The law will be more than some wanted; it will be less than some wanted," Rice said. "That's the nature of democratic compromise."

Echoing a statement made a day earlier by senior U.S. military and diplomatic officials in the country, Rice said passage of the law would "have to be followed up by implementation that is in the same spirit of national reconciliation.

"That is the work that is ahead," she said.

Rice, joined at her news conference by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, also met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite leader whom she urged to continue looking for ways to reconcile with rival Sunni blocs, Iraqi officials said. Her visit to Iraq was a detour from President Bush's week-long swing through the Middle East, which she has been accompanying.

"When I hear that the surge was to give the Iraqi people a chance for political reconciliation, I say that's absolutely right," Rice said, referring to last year's U.S. troop buildup. "And while it hasn't always moved as fast as some of us sitting in Washington would like, it has certainly moved."

At a news conference later in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Rice and the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said Iraq was a topic in discussions between Bush and the Saudis, and Saud assured the Americans of Saudi Arabia's support for Iraq. The Saudis have been less than enthusiastic about the Shiite-led government -- and have yet to open an embassy or send an ambassador.

Saud said Tuesday night that an ambassador had been designated and that an embassy would open "in the next few months."