European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                May 2007 stars and stripes Mideast edition pages Cheney visits iraqi presses Unity by Tom Raum the associated press Baghdad vice president Dick Cheney said wednesday that Iraq remains a dangerous a Point underscored by a thunderous explosion that rattled win Dows in the embassy where he spent most of the after talks with iraqi military and Politi Cal the vice president said Iraq leaders seem to have a better sense now that they need to do More to reconcile Sec tarian and political i think they recognize its in their inter ests As Well As ours to make Progress on the political Cheney Cheney spoke less than an hour after an explosion could be heard in the embassy where he spent most of the win Dows rattled and reporters covering the vice president were briefly moved to a More secure said Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne his meeting was not disturbed and he was not asked about Security in Cheney told i have to rely on re because obviously i spent the Day Here basically in our embassy in the Green but he said based on conversations he had throughout the iraqi leaders Felt that sectarian violence was Down fairly i think everybody recognizes there still Are some Security Security no question about Cheney Cheney and iraqi prime minister noun Gerald vice president Dick meets with David commander off forces in at the embassy in Baghdad on Almalik both pledged wednesday that their governments would continue work ing together toward a the meeting with the vice president put the foundation for practical Steps in order to support our efforts working on both the Security front As Well As the Domestic Politi Cal Almalik speaking through an he and Cheney made Brief remarks to Almalik is coming under increasing pressure from Washington to demonstrate Progress in easing sectarian and Cheney unannounced visit to Iraq was depicted by officials As an attempt to press Almalik and other iraqi leaders to do More to achieve reconciliation among Cheney said he and Almalik talked about the Way ahead in terms of our Mutu Al efforts to help build an Iraq that is Safe and is self governing and free of the threats of the insurgency and Cheney got a firsthand briefing on conditions in Iraq and the effectiveness of the military buildup from the top commander in theres a lot going this is a very important theres a lot to talk Cheney said As he met with David Petraeus and the new ambassador Ryan Petraeus said recently that conditions in Iraq May get harder before they get easier and will require an enormous commit ment Over time by the United Cheney made Iraq the first Stop on a we Klong tour of the Middle East that will also include stops in the United Arab Emir saudi Egypt and the Baghdad Stop had not been announced pub Cheney also met with Iraq kurdish Jalal sunni and shiite vice and other government and political aides said the vice president wanted to emphasize that ending the conflict in Iraq cannot done by military Means alone and that his Mission was to get a sense of the situation on the ground in Iraq and to deliver a message that More work is needed on the political front to overcome Divi Sions and Cheney also was Likely to renew a re quest that the iraqi parliament not take a scheduled two month break during these troubling according to truck bomber kills 14 in kurdish City of Erbil by Ravi Nessman the associated press Baghdad a suicide truck bomb ripped through the Interior ministry in the relatively peace Ful kurdish City of Erbil on wednesday killing at least 14 people and wounding Doz officials kurdish officials blamed Alsaid linked insurgents for the devastating at tack the first major attack to hit the regional capital in More than three the military announced wednesday that an american sol Dier was killed and four others were wounded the Day before in a shooting attack in the volatile province of Northeast of the explosion in 217 Miles Norm of under scored How even relatively Safe areas of the country were not immune from the correction the May 9 Story on troop rotations should have said that the 2nd cavalry regiment troops Are expected to deploy to Iraq in August that the army reserves will deploy 504 soldiers from the 478th combat Engineer Battal n that m 40th signal fort the capital of Iraq autonomous Kurdistan had been spared much of the sectarian violence wracking the rest of but attacks have been on the Rise in Southern and Northern areas in Iraq As sunni and shiite militants have fled a three Montgold Security crack Down in Baghdad and brought their brutal tactics with the Interior ministry building was badly kurdish Tele vision showed piles of rubble and twisted Metal Rescue workers reached into the wreck age to pull out one of the victims of the windows were blown out Down the Street and wreckage was scattered nearly 100 Yards the nearby Security Headquarters was also Ahmed an employee at a local was Riding to work when the blast spun his bus the bus windows were smashed and my face and head were Hurt by a woman beside me fell on my her shoulder was he the regional minister for the in Karim said 14 peo ple were killed and 87 kurdish lawmaker Mahmoud Othman blamed the attack on Ansar a sunni Arab in surgent and Ansar a mostly kurdish Mili a residents and Security officials gather in front of the badly damaged Interior ministry building in the City of on Tant group with ties to Al Aida in Ansar a islam has been blamed for a number of including attempts to assassinate kurdish Othman said authorities Learned that insurgents were plan Ning a Large attack a week ago when police arrested a militant cell in the town of during questioning they con fessed that they were getting training lessons in a neighbouring country and that was he the last major attack in Erbil took place when twin suicide bombers killed 109 people in two kurdish party offic Ansar a sunnah claimed responsibility for that Kurdistan is a Safe Region and this will have its effect on and companies will fear coming to this Othman officials have expressed fears that sunni insurgents led by Al Aida Are carefully picking their targets to provoke retaliatory violence to derail efforts to stabilize the William a military said Shi it dominated Iran was providing support to some of the sunni in he said the military had credible intelligence to sup port the allegation but did not its not All sunni insurgents but rather we do know that there is a direct awareness by iranian intelligence officials that they Are providing support to some select sunni insurgent Cald Well told reporters in deaths in Iraq the associated press As of at least members of the military have died since the beginning of the Iraq War in March according to an associated press the figure includes seven military at least died As a result of hostile according to the military the a count is seven higher than the defense depart ments last updated tues Day at 10 am the British military has re ported 148 deaths 33 18 20 bul 13 11 six Al five four three two each and one death since the Start of Mili tary operations in have been wounded in hostile a according to the defense departments weekly the latest deaths reported by the military two soldiers were killed tuesday when their vehicle was struck by a Roadside bomb Southeast of the latest identifications re ported by the multary no identifications report