Cheney sees Arab support for stabilizing Iraq

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) Vice President Dick Cheney said yesterday he had won support from Arab allies for US-led efforts to stabilize Iraq, but ended his West Asia trip urging Iraqi leaders not to waste time in doing their part.

Cheney also said Arab backing was not contingent on progress toward ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which many in the region see as a catalyst to Islamic militancy. But he said Washington remained committed to West Asia peace.

''I do not think it's everything or nothing. I do believe there are a number of issues that need to be worked on simultaneously. We don't get to pick and choose,'' he told reporters on his plane yesterday as he flew home after visits to Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan.

A copy of the reporters' pool report was made available in Washington.

Cheney's stop in Iraq appeared to signal growing US impatience at the Iraqi government's slowness in reaching power-sharing accords that Washington says are vital to ending sectarian violence.

The Bush administration is facing mounting pressure from an opposition-led Congress to begin winding down US involvement in the unpopular war, where bombings and other attacks have persisted despite a US troop build-up focusing on Baghdad.

During his Baghdad visit, Cheney, a driving force behind the 2003 invasion, urged Iraqi leaders to move without delay, and he hammered home that message again on his flight home.

''There's not a lot of time to be wasted here, and it's important to move aggressively on the business of the day,'' he said. ''I thought there was a greater sense of urgency on their part than I had seen previously.'' But he acknowledged, ''I can't predict what precisely will happen.'' Asked whether he had received support from his Arab hosts to help stabilize Iraq, he said: ''I did.'' Washington wants Arab countries to do more to assist Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and prevent Iran from exerting influence in Iraq.

Moderate Arab governments have long urged Bush to revive the US role as peacebroker between Israel and the Palestinians, saying the long-running dispute helps fuel Islamic militancy in Iraq and elsewhere in the region. Israel strongly denies any linkage between the conflicts.

Cheney defended his tough warning to Iran, issued on Friday aboard a US aircraft carrier off the UAE, and said he saw no contradiction with the administration's consent to talks with Iranian officials in Baghdad to discuss security in Iraq.

The White House has insisted the talks, one of the few one-on-one meetings between the two countries in more than two decades, will be limited to Iraq and not delve into Tehran's defiance of international demands to curb its nuclear program.

''The president made clear the conversations in Baghdad are between ambassadors, focused on the situation in Iraq and what we believe is Iran's interference in the internal affairs of Iraq,'' he said. Iran denies meddling in Iraq.

Reuters HK VP0435