Rumsfeld Meets With Iraqi Leaders

(CBS/AP)  Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on another quick visit to Iraq, pressed the country's new leaders Tuesday to avoid delays in developing a constitutional government and defeating the insurgency.

"Anything that would delay that or disrupt that as a result of turbulence or incompetence or corruption in government would be unfortunate," Rumsfeld said before he began a round of talks with Iraqi leaders.

The newly designated prime minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told reporters after meeting Rumsfeld at his official residence that he realized the risk of setbacks in the political process.

"I don't deny there are challenges, but I am sure we are going to form very good ministries," he said in English. He predicted that the government bureaucracy would be staffed by "good technocrats" from a variety of backgrounds.

In other developments:

Militants ambushed a convoy carrying a senior interior ministry official in the Iraqi capital, killing a bodyguard and injuring three others, Gen. Tariq al-Baldawi, a deputy interior minister, escaped unhurt after gunmen in two cars opened fire on his convoy in Baghdad's western Adel neighborhood, an official in the ministry said on condition of anonymity.

In the northeastern city of Kirkuk, gunmen opened fire late Monday on a police patrol, injuring two members of the security service, police Brig. Sarhat Kadier said Tuesday. On its Web site, the militant group Ansar al-Sunnah Army claimed responsibility for attacks with machine-gun fire against three Iraqi police cars in Kirkuk on Monday evening.

The Iraqi government said Tuesday it had earlier captured an insurgent who has confessed to attempting to cross into Syria to collect a car bomb for detonation in Iraq and that the detainee has "links" with Syria's intelligence services.

Late Monday, the U.S. embassy in Iraq announced the kidnapping of an American citizen. A spokesman speaking on condition of anonymity said the American contractor, who was working on a reconstruction project, had been abducted around noon Monday. The spokesman didn't release the contractor's identity or other details, but said the abductee's family had been informed.

Poland wants to withdraw its 1,700 troops from Iraq early next year, the defense minister said Tuesday.

Residents of a small town north of Qaim — a city on the Syrian border where insurgents attacked a U.S. military base with three car bombs late Monday — reported the sounds of gunfire and heavy explosions overnight.

In Samarra, a troubled city 60 miles north of Baghdad, a pickup truck blew up Monday near a U.S. patrol, killing three civilians and wounding more than 20 others, including four U.S. soldiers, officials said. One soldier was evacuated for medical treatment, and the others were treated and returned to duty, the U.S. military said.

Rumsfeld met separately with Interim President Jalal Talabani, the Kurdish former rebel leader.

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