|
 Rice, who split off from President Bush's Mideast tour, said the Iraqi parliament's approval of the U.S.-sought benchmark law Saturday was a first step and showed that last year's "surge" of American forces was paying dividends.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP's earlier story is below.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Iraq's prime minister during a surprise visit here Tuesday, congratulating him on the passage of legislation reinstating former Saddam Hussein loyalists to government jobs and pushing for progress on other benchmark laws.
Rice flew from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she was accompanying President Bush on a tour of the Middle East. Her trip was announced as Bush was holding talks with Saudi officials.
"President Bush and Secretary Rice decided this would be a good opportunity for the secretary to go to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi officials to build on progress made and to encourage additional political reconciliation and legislative action," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. He said Rice would return to Riyadh Tuesday night.
Ali al-Dabbagh, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's spokesman, said he and Rice met for about 45 minutes, of which 30 minutes were one-on-one.
He said she briefed the premier on Bush's trip and passed along Bush's congratulations on the passage of legislation reinstating thousands of former supporters of Saddam Hussein's now-dissolved Baath party to government jobs.
The so-called de-Baathification law is one of 18 steps which the United States considers benchmarks to promoting reconciliation among the country's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.
A senior aide to al-Maliki said Rice also encouraged the prime minister to promote the progress of the other benchmark legislation, including provincial elections, constitutional amendments and a law to share the country's oil and gas resources among the different sects.
On Saturday, Bush had commended Iraq's parliament for the de-Baathification legislation.
"It's an important step toward reconciliation," Bush said then, after more than a year of prodding by the U.S. for action on the law. "It's an important sign that the leaders of that country understand that they must work together to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people."
At the same time, Bush said more progress was needed.
[to top of second column]
 |
 Meanwhile, a fire broke out early Tuesday in a major oil refinery in the southern city of Basra, the Iraqi oil ministry said. Four workers suffered burns.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said a preliminary investigation indicated that a U.S. helicopter hovering over the refinery was to blame.
"This is what caused the fire and led to the leakage of a huge amount of liquid gas as the blaze hit the gas production unit," al-Shahristani said in a statement. He added that his ministry "had warned many times against aircraft flying above oil institutions and especially refineries."
It was not clear how the helicopter's presence caused the fire, though aircraft often release flares to ward off ground attacks.
The fire at the Shuaiba refinery started at 7 a.m. "due to an explosion," said Assem Jihad, the Oil Ministry spokesman.
"Firefighters and technical teams have controlled the fire, which hit the gas unit," Jihad told The Associated Press. Production was continuing.
Basra, where about 80 percent of Iraq's oil reserves are located, is Iraq's second-largest city, 340 miles southeast of the capital.
The Shuaiba refinery, on the southern outskirts of Basra, has a capacity of 160,000 barrels per day but has been functioning below capacity at about 100,000.
Last week, a technical fault in a production unit sparked two fires in the country's largest oil refinery in the northern town of Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad.
An engineer was killed and 10 workers suffered burns in those fires.
Iraq's three main oil refineries, Beiji, Shuaiba and Dora in Baghdad
-- are running at roughly half their capacity, processing a total of about 350,000 bpd, compared to about 700,000 before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
The shortfall has forced Iraq to turn to imports of oil products such as gasoline and kerosene from neighbors Iran, Kuwait and Turkey.
Iraq, the holder of the world's third-largest crude oil reserves with an estimated 115 billion barrels, aims to boost crude production to 3 million bpd by the end of this year.
[Associated
Press; By HAMZA HENDAWI]
Copyright 2007 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
