Iraq

Improving security across Iraq, coupled with a sustained reduction in the levels of violence, is making it possible for the United States to reduce its forces by nearly 8,000 personnel by February 2009. "While the enemy in Iraq is still dangerous, we have seized the offensive, and Iraqi forces are becoming increasingly capable of leading and winning the fight," President Bush said. "As a result, we have been able to carry out a policy of 'return on success' — reducing American combat forces in Iraq as conditions on the ground continue to improve." After receiving a detailed assessment of troop levels and the improving security situation in Iraq from U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and coalition forces commander General David Petraeus earlier this month, Bush said the United States will withdraw 3,400 combat support personnel over the next several months. That drawdown will include personnel assigned to aviation units, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineer units, military police and logistical support units. By November a Marine battalion now serving in Anbar province will be withdrawn. And in February another Army combat brigade will be withdrawn. 

2008: Meetings Signal Iraq's Regional Reintegration, Rice Says (Apr 22, 2008) | Press Briefing by U.S. Senior Officials on Iraqi Refugees (Apr 11, 2008) (Fact Sheet) | NATO Defense Ministers Prepare for April Summit (Feb 13, 2008)

2007: U.S., British Efforts To Stabilize Iraq-Turkey Border Intensify (Oct 23, 2007) (U.S.-U.K. Joint Statement) (Rice, U.K. Foreign Secretary Miliband Remarks) | Rice Looks Forward to Neighbors Conference on Iraq (Apr 23, 2007) | Under Secretary Burns Elaborates on Challenges and Opportunities Facing the Transatlantic Community (Mar 26, 2007)

2006: Treasury's Kimmitt Discusses Developments, Reform in Iraq (Oct 16, 2006) | Hungary a Model for Iraq, Bush Says in Budapest (Jun 22, 2006) | U.S.-EU Summit Declaration (Jun 21, 2006) and 2006 U.S.-EU Summit Progress Report on Political and Security Issues | White House: Working with EU on Iraq, Palestinians, Iran (Jun 15, 2006)

Secretary Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Blackburn, England, Friday March 31, 2006. U.S. Embassy Picture/Richard LewisSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw are urging Iraq's political leaders to take swift action to form a government of national unity needed to fill a political vacuum and quell sectarian violence. At a press conference with Straw in Baghdad, Iraq, April 3, Rice said "the next and most important step" in overcoming sectarian violence is "to get a government of unity, to get one quickly ...." The two foreign ministers arrived in Baghdad April 2, in an unannounced visit, to meet with Iraqi leaders.

Rice, Britain's Straw Urge Iraq To Form Government Soon (Apr 3, 2006) | State's Bellinger on Need to Support Justice, Accountability in Iraq (Feb 9, 2006)

A U.S. diplomat is calling on Europe to fully support the next elected government of Iraq. The United States and Europe share the same strategic goal of fostering global democracy, according to Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. In remarks December 14, 2005, he cited a German Marshall Fund poll that found 74 percent of Europeans support joint efforts by the United States and Europe to advance democracy in the world. Also, many European governments are beginning to recognize they need to support a stable and democratic Iraq, regardless of whether they supported the 2003 military action against former dictator Saddam Hussein, Fried said. “Whatever our differences with some European governments -- let’s be frank, it was mostly France and Germany – about the decision to remove Saddam Hussein from power, European governments are coming to realize that democracy’s failure in Iraq would be a grave blow to our common security,” he said.

2005: U.S., Europe Must Cooperate on Iraq, Mideast, Says Zoellick (Apr 5, 2005) | U.S., E.U. Declare Joint Support for Iraqi Government (Feb 22, 2005)