Rice urges patience in US on Iraqi leadership

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Americans to have patience yesterday after the Iraqi government failed to pick security ministers, even as new violence rocked the country and Iraqis reacted to allegations that US troops have massacred civilians.

The Iraqi parliament postponed a session yesterday after the coalition government could not agree on candidates to head the ministries overseeing the police and military.

``The more important thing here is that they get it right," Rice said on ``Fox News Sunday" when asked about the delay. ``When they get it right, and they will get it right, everybody will forget how long it took them. What will matter is that they have the very strongest . . . defense and interior ministries."

There have been a number of attempts to form coalition governments that could end the violence, the latest of which is headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who took power May 21.

Rice predicted that the security posts could be filled within days, a move US officials regard as a milestone in the effort to turn over more responsibility for security in Iraq from US troops to Iraqi soldiers.

``It's only been a matter of a few weeks since you've had a government in place. Let's give the government a little chance now to get settled in and to really begin to work on this situation," she said. ``This is a government that is more confident, that has a real basis for action because it is a national unity government."

Maliki has been tested by both new rounds of violence and by allegations that US troops massacred civilian citizens, including the charge that about two dozen Iraqi civilians were slaughtered in Haditha in November.

General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Associated Press in Singapore that the allegations will be thoroughly investigated.

Pace, noting that coalition forces are being given a training course in ``core values," said he hoped that action would ``provide comfort to those looking to see if we are we a nation that stands on the values we hold dear."

``Emotions on the battlefield are intense," Pace added. ``It's good to stop and check your moral compass."

Maliki was quoted last week as saying the Haditha killings were a ``horrible crime," adding, ``this is a phenomenon that has become common among many of the multinational forces -- no respect for citizens, smashing civilian cars, and killing on a suspicion or a hunch. It's unacceptable."

White House spokesman Tony Snow said on Friday that Maliki had been misquoted, but he told reporters the details were ``a little hazy to me."

But when Rice was asked about Maliki's statement yesterday on ``Fox News Sunday," she did not repeat the assertion that the prime minister had been misquoted.

Instead, Rice said: ``The prime minister is speaking to the concerns of the Iraqi people for greater security, and he obviously is concerned about reports that concern us as well. The president made very clear that these reports are deeply troubling."

Separately, on CNN, Rice said that Maliki's criticism of US action in Haditha should be put in a broader context of his support for the continuing presence of US troops. ``Maliki has been very clear of his support for coalition forces, of his recognition of the sacrifice that they are making."

Democrats called for a broader investigation and criticized the administration's action in Iraq.

Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island, said the investigation should be expanded to determine ``if this is part of a larger, systemic problem."

``We have to take the blinders off," Reed said on ``Fox News Sunday." ``We have to look clearly and dispassionately about whether the situations there and the training is such that this might be more widespread. And if we can answer that no, I think that will help us. And if we don't answer the question, I think we'll find these problems in the future, and it'll continue to burden our process and our progress in Iraq."

Senator Joseph Biden, Democrat of Delaware, was asked on NBC's ``Meet the Press" yesterday ``how high up the chain" was information available about ``Haditha and some of the other alleged atrocities."

``The secretary of defense," Biden responded, referring to Donald Rumsfeld. ``He should be gone. He shouldn't be in his office tomorrow morning."

Senator Carl Levin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Iraq's government is ``hollow." He said Bush had over-sold the ability of the new government to stop the violence, saying Bush ``was making the same mistake that he made on the aircraft carrier, which was to say, `Mission accomplished.' "

Levin was referring to Bush's appearance aboard the USS Lincoln on May 2, 2003, when he spoke before a banner that said `Mission Accomplished' and declared that ``major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

After Maliki took power last month, Bush said the formation of a new government marked ``an important day, but I recognize that we still have more work to do. . . . Democracy in Iraq will be a major blow to the terrorists who want to do us harm."

Under the government's plan for filling top positions, the interior minister post will go to a Shi'ite, the defense post to a Sunni Arab, in an effort to provide balance on security matters.

The disagreement has focused in part on on Shi'ite objections to some Sunni Arab candidates for the Defense Ministry because they served in the military under ousted president Saddam Hussein. There was also Shi'ite dissent over the Interior Ministry.

The US invasion of Iraq began March 20, 2003.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican, told Fox News yesterday that the formation of a coalition may at least temporarily provoke violence. ``Every time there's political success in bringing the country together to live as one under democracy, the terrorists ratchet it up because the stakes are high," Graham said.

The violence in Iraq yesterday included an assault on two minibuses northeast of Baghdad. The minibuses, carrying mostly high school students, were stopped by a band of attackers who killed 21 passengers.

Material from news services was included in this report.