Rice, In Iraq, Urges Patience

Says Iraqis Can Overcome Surge Of Violence

(CBS/AP) 
Most Iraqi officials learned of the visit only hours before Rice landed in the region aboard a borrowed government plane, said a senior adviser to Rice, Jim Wilkinson

If the timing of Rice's trip underscored the importance U.S. officials place on the success of the new multiethnic government, the secrecy and security surrounding the visit were evidence that Iraq is a dangerous and unstable place two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Rice rejected any assertion that the tight security reflects poorly on the success of the U.S.-led effort to rebuild Iraq.

"It says there are terrorists and old Baathists who want to destroy the seeds of democracy in Iraq and the seeds of democracy in the Middle East, that's what it says," Rice said.

Rice had canceled an earlier planned trip when word got out and she traveled with a much smaller contingent than usual.

Iraq's new government has been three fractious months in the making, allowing the excitement and momentum from the successful January 30 elections to fizzle. The delay may have also emboldened militants.

A surge of militant attacks has killed at least 430 people across Iraq since April 28, when the country's first democratically elected government was announced. Many of those killed were Iraqi police and security forces and civilians.

"It's very hard what the Iraqis are being asked to do which is cast off years and years of tyranny and dictatorship and come to political unity in what is a very complicated place," Rice said.

"I think it's quite remarkable what they've done," so far, she said.

The partial Cabinet approved by members of Iraq's National Assembly left top posts reserved for Sunni Arabs, but they remain unfilled because of continuing political turmoil and ethnic rivalry. The Cabinet includes Ahmed Chalabi, the former Bush administration favorite who fell out with Washington before the January elections.