BAGHDAD (AFP)--A fiery protest marked the start on Friday of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Iraq, with supporters of the Shiite anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr burning the Stars and Stripes.
Biden met General Ray Odierno, the top U.S. officer in Iraq, and Christopher Hill, Washington's ambassador in Baghdad, who briefed him on the military and political situation, three days after a major U.S. troop pullback.
The vice president's trip, aimed at bridging Iraq's sectarian divide ahead of a complete U.S. military pullout in 2011, comes just after President Barack Obama tasked Biden with overseeing the U.S. departure.
A stark reminder of the legacy inherited by Obama's administration, however, came in Sadr City, where hundreds of supporters of Sadr, who is in self-imposed exile, chanted anti-U.S. slogans.
"No, no America, no, no occupation. Yes, yes Iraq," they shouted as a U.S. flag was reduced to ashes in the sprawling Baghdad Shiite district.
The White House said Biden, who landed late on Thursday, would visit U.S. troops, now stationed on the outskirts of Iraqi cities following their June 30 withdrawal from urban centres.
It also said talks with political leaders, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, will renew the U.S. commitment to complete the terms of a security deal signed between the two governments last November that set a timeline for the U.S. military exit.
It is Biden's first trip to Iraq since he was sworn in as vice president in January, but he previously made several trips when he was chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.
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Publié le 03 Juillet 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones