Powell arrives in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi president

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Secretary of State Colin Powell promised Iraqi leaders Friday that the United States will speed up spending to rebuild the country's infrastructure and create jobs, and said doing so will help make Iraq safer.

Powell didn't announce specific figures. But Iraq's deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, who joined Powell at a news conference, said $9 billion in U.S. reconstruction money will be disbursed by December.

Powell said the he believes a faster-paced reconstruction effort will enhance public support for the interim government.

"We want to rebuild the infrastructure. We want to create jobs," he said. "We want to show the Iraqi people that this money is being used for their benefit and do it as quickly as we can."

Powell made an unannounced visit here Friday in a show of support for the month-old interim government. In addition to Saleh, he met with Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer.

He said the Iraqi leadership is working under extraordinarily difficult conditions.

"It's important to note the leaders of Iraq are very courageous, they put themselves at risk every day," Powell said. "We have to make sure that these insurgents understand that we will not be deterred ... . The terrorists will be defeated, there can be no other option."

Al-Yawer said after his meeting with Powell that rebel forces have been increasing violent attacks recently because they realize they have no chance of winning.

"The bad guys, the army of the darkness, are getting more helpless and hopeless. That's why they are stepping up these things. Time and the place is on our side," al-Yawer said.

U.S. lawmakers and others have long criticized the snail's pace at which occupation officials spent more than $18 billion Congress approved for reconstruction last year. To date only $458 million has been spent, officials said, partly due to bureaucratic red tape in the U.S. government contracting process.

And the first government audit of reconstruction spending in Iraq showed that U.S. authorities spent hundreds of millions of Iraqi dollars without keeping good enough records to show whether they got some services and products they paid for.

"Reconstruction and security are two sides of the same coin," Powell said. Improving the economy and restoring vital services such as water and electricity "contributes to a sense of safety and a secure environment," he said.

After his half-hour meeting with al-Yawer, Powell said the two countries are facing big challenges which they are determined to overcome.

Powell came here two days after a terrorist bombing killed at least 70 Iraqis northeast of Baghdad. There also has been a sharp increase in attacks on foreigners, including beheadings.

Al-Yawer expressed confidence the violence will not deter Iraq from electing a transitional government in January.

"We are working around the clock to make sure we are on time," he said.

Powell is the highest-ranking American official to visit since Iraq's interim government took power on June 28. U.S. ambassador John Negroponte greeted him at Baghdad International Airport.

Powell arrived in Iraq following meetings with Kuwaiti and Saudi leaders in their respective countries Thursday.

In the Saudi port city of Jiddah, Powell met with interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who wants Muslim nations to dispatch troops to Iraq to help defeat an insurgency that he said threatens all Islamic countries.

Allawi made the appeal a day after Saudi officials disclosed that they had initiated an effort to encourage the creation of a Muslim security force to help bring stability to Iraq.

Powell said he did not know whether the proposed force would complement the coalition or would be a one-for-one substitution. The number of Muslim troops in the coalition is believed to be scant.

Powell flew to Baghdad from Kuwait aboard a military aircraft and then by helicopter to the heavily guarded "Green Zone" where the U.S. Embassy is located.

The visit is Powell's third to Baghdad since the ouster of President Saddam Hussein.