Rice to head to Middle East with Iran in her sights

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves for the Middle East to promote the newly unveiled US strategy for the Iraq war and to increase pressure on Iran over its alleged interference in Iraq.

Rice departs Friday evening for talks Saturday and Sunday in Israel and the Palestinian territories, before traveling to Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. She will wrap up her tour in Berlin and London before returning to Washington on January 19.

The tour comes two days after President George W. Bush unveiled his last-ditch strategy to quell violence in Iraq with the deployment of an additional 21,500 troops and to turn security for the country over to Iraqi forces by November.

He also declared a new initiative against Iranian and Syrian elements which the United States accuses of destabilizing Iraq, and to deploy US Patriot missiles in the region to protect moderate Arab allies against unstated threats.

In a sign of the new effort, on early Thursday US forces detained six Iranians in a night-time swoop on an office in northern Iraq, prompting protests from Iran and strong criticism from other governments.

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the six were not in Iraq as diplomats and the offices raided by US troops did not have diplomatic status.

Rice's focus on Iraq and Iran could overshadow efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not the first time the issue has received a lower priority during President George W. Bush's tenure.

The top US diplomat had promised last month to redouble efforts to revive the Mideast peace process and Bush conveyed the same message last week to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But on the eve of her departure, Rice told lawmakers in Congress her trip "will focus heavily on rallying the support of those responsible Arab states to support the government of Iraq, to support what needs to be done there, to support, of course, also Lebanon and the moderate Palestinians."

Rice also stressed her goals of countering Iranian influence and promoting the Bush administration's new Iraq plan.

"What we are ... looking at is the need to solidify the consensus, the interest of these states that all fear Iran's moves in the region, fear the regional aggression of Iran," Rice said.

"I think you will see that the United States is not going to simply stand idly by and let these activities continue," she said.

She appeared to face an uphill battle on promoting Bush's new war plan nearly four years after the US-led invasion to depose Saddam Hussein.

Editorialists across the Middle East cast doubt Friday on the plan.

The Qatari newspaper Al-Raya said: "This strategy, which does not even convince Americans, is doomed to an unavoidable and appalling failure."

"Iraq does not need reinforcements. It needs to be saved from the situation created by the US presence, which has turned the lives of Iraqi people into a nightmare... The solution is not military, but political."

In Cairo, the Rose Al-Yussuf newspaper said that Bush's strategy would have only a "temporary" effect, and proved that Bush "understands nothing."

"Bush's vision is limited to the capital," it said, referring to Baghdad. "He does not realize that it is all Iraq that is in crisis."

The Iran focus of the trip comes as Tehran continues to scorn international efforts to convince it to halt nuclear fuel enrichment operations, which major powers believe is aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

With tension between the United States and Iran mounting, Washington also announced Thursday it was stepping up the US military presence in the region, with two aircraft carrier battle groups due to stay in the Gulf for several months.

It was the first time Washington had moved two carriers to the region since 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq, a US military official said.

Rice's visit to Kuwait will include a meeting with foreign ministers from the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, as well as Egypt and Jordan.

Rice said at the Congress Thursday that these countries "fear quite greatly" an increase of Iranian influence in the Middle East, and know that to resist this they need to support Iraq.

"Iraq can either be a barrier to further Iranian influence or it can become a bridge if it is not dealt with effectively," she said.

Meanwhile US senator and 2008 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton announced plans Friday to visit Iraq and Afghanistan this weekend to meet government officials and US military leaders.

The former first lady, who voted for the Iraq war in 2002 but has since turned into a vocal critic of the campaign, was traveling with fellow Democratic Senator Evan Bayh (news, bio, voting record) and Republican Congressman John McHugh (news, bio, voting record).