US Presidential Hopeful John McCain Visits Baghdad

U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John McCain is making an unexpected visit to Baghdad to meet with Iraqi and U.S. officials. The trip is McCain’s eighth to Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and his first since he became the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee.

The U.S. embassy in Baghdad says McCain arrived in the Iraqi capital Sunday but released few details of his visit because of security reasons. Iraq is McCain’s first stop on a weeklong trip that will also take him to Jordan, Israel, Britain and France.

McCain has been a strong supporter of President Bush’s strategy of sending tens of thousands of additional troops to Iraq to reduce violence.

In northern Iraq Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the city of Mosul, wounding at least nine people.

Saturday, the United Nations special representative in Iraq urged Iraqi leaders to do more to match security gains with political progress and improved basic services.

U.N. Special Representative Staffan de Mistura acknowledged there has been a recent spike in violence, but he said an overall reduction in sectarian bloodshed from 2006 levels represents a window of opportunity for Iraqi politicians.

He said Iraqi leaders should use the relative calm to promote reconciliation between majority Shi’ites and minority Sunni Arabs.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.

by VOA News

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