Rice Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq; Urges Patience

NPR | By Peter Kenyon,

Liane Hansen

Published May 15, 2005 at 12:00 AM EDT

Secretary of State of Condoleezza Rice pays a surprise visit to Iraq, her first to the country as the top U.S. diplomat. Under heavy security, Rice visited Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq and then met with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari in Baghdad.

Rice urged patience with the new government, even as dozens of Iraqi corpses were discovered, believed to be the latest victims of the insurgency.

Rice's one-day visit comes at the end of a week in which U.S. forces launched several offensives in an effort to combat insurgents along the Syrian border.

Peter Kenyon

Peter Kenyon is NPR's international correspondent based in Istanbul, Turkey.

See stories by Peter Kenyon

Liane Hansen

Liane Hansen has been the host of NPR's award-winning Weekend Edition Sunday for 20 years. She brings to her position an extensive background in broadcast journalism, including work as a radio producer, reporter, and on-air host at both the local and national level. The program has covered such breaking news stories as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the deaths of Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the Columbia shuttle tragedy. In 2004, Liane was granted an exclusive interview with former weapons inspector David Kay prior to his report on the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The show also won the James Beard award for best radio program on food for a report on SPAM.