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17.03.2008 10:05 - category: World News : BBC News
- Source: BBC NewsUS Vice-President Dick Cheney is in the Iraqi capital Baghdad for a previously unannounced visit, ahead of the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion.
Mr Cheney has had a classified briefing with the top US commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, and the US ambassador to the country, Ryan Crocker. "It's good to be back in Iraq," Mr Cheney said after a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The visit came as Mr Cheney began a 10-day tour of the Middle East. He is due to hold talks with leaders in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank and Turkey. Oman had been announced as the first scheduled stop on Mr Cheney's tour, but on Sunday night he left the vice presidential plane, Air Force Two, in the UK and boarded a C-17 flight to the Iraqi capital. Third trip Mr Cheney landed at Baghdad International Airport before flying by helicopter to the Green Zone. It is his third vice-presidential trip to Iraq, where 160,000 American troops are deployed and the US death toll is nearing 4,000. The expected Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, is also in Iraq, on the second day of his visit. He is continuing meetings with senior American and Iraqi officials, before heading to other countries in the Middle East and Europe. It is unclear whether Mr Cheney and Mr McCain will cross paths in Iraq.www.free-voipservice.net
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