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US Vice President Joe Biden walks out of a building at a US military base near Baghdad - Source: Reuters -
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Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr paraded through a
Baghdad slum, burning American flags and shouting anti-US slogans
during a visit to Iraq by US Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden was on a trip to Iraq to promote reconciliation between
Iraq's fractious groups after six years of bloodshed.
He met for breakfast with his son Beau Biden, who is serving
there with the US military.
Biden started his visit to Iraq on Thursday night, after US forces
pulled out of Iraq's towns and cities this week under the terms of
a bilateral security pact that paves the way for a full US
withdrawal by 2012.
After Friday prayers, hundreds and possibly thousands of residents
of Sadr City chanted down, down USA and burned US flags in protest
at Biden's visit.
A smaller demonstration also took place in Kerbala, in the
Shiite south.
Biden helped author a 2006 plan to split Iraq into self-ruled
Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish enclaves.
That plan angered many Iraqis, and was quietly shelved as
violence ebbed.
"Biden has come here to divide Iraq according to his plan," said a
message from Sadr read out by one Imam in a mosque.
One of Baghdad's blinding dust storms blanketed the city on Friday,
grounding helicopters and forcing Biden to reschedule meetings with
Iraqi officials.
White House officials said Biden would meet President Jalal
Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and US commanders and
troops, marking the US July 4 Independence Day holiday.
This was Biden's second trip to Iraq this year and his first as
vice president.
President Barack Obama visited Iraq in April.
Mixed feelings
Biden's visit comes at a critical time in US-Iraqi relations.
The bilateral security pact sets a target of pulling all US
forces out of Iraq by 2012, putting pressure on Sunni, Shiite and
Kurdish leaders to resolve disputes over power, oil and land that
have stalled reconciliation.
Iraqi politicians had mixed feelings about Biden's visit.
"This visit is important ... the issue of dividing Iraq was
rejected by Iraqis, so we don't fear it," said Abdul-Kareem
al-Samarrai, head of parliament's Accordance Front Sunni bloc.
"But the reconciliation issue ... should be activated by Iraqis
themselves not by others' recommendations."
Obama this week asked Biden to play a coordinating role in the
White House on Iraq policy.
The sectarian warfare and insurgency unleashed by the 2003 US-led
invasion have receded dramatically over the past year, but there
continue to be large-scale attacks.
Some Iraqis blame US policies for sowing those divisions.
"So far, we haven't experienced neutrality from the US towards the
differing parties.
They usually back a party against another," said Usama
al-Nujaifi, a lawmaker from former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's
Iraqiya list.
Nasseer al-Issawi, from Sadr's movement, called Biden's visit a
public interference in Iraq's affairs.
