Biden in Baghdad: 'High-level focus'

by Mark Silva and updated at 1:20 pm EDT

Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise landing in Baghdad today to meet with Iraqi leaders and U.S. military troops.

A military C-17 transport carrying the vice president landed at Baghdad International Airport at 4:20 pm local time, according to a pool report from a reporter traveling with Biden.

Biden, following a meeting in Baghdad with Army Gen. Ray Odierno, U.S. Ambassador Chris Hill and others, said he has "a personal relationship" and "has won a measure of trust" from Iraqi leaders. He was there, he said, "to listen.''

The vice president said he had been asked by Iraqi leaders, as he has been in the past, "to act as an interlocutor" as they work through political issues. He cited the reform of the nation's elections law as a particular issue.

"A successful election is the necessary condition for some of the outstanding political issues to be resolved," Biden said.

The vice president said Odierno is "optimistic'' that Iraqi forces will be ready on schedule to permit the phased U.S. withdrawal of forces as planned. And he said that an Iraqi referendum on the U.S. status of forces agreement with Iraq "is likely to happen.

"But there are a number of steps that still need to be taken," Biden said. "I'm not sure it's settled yet."

The Green Zone, where Biden was meeting with officials, had been hit by a few mortars in the past hour, a pool reporter on the trip noted, but there had been no apparent damage. A signal to take cover had sounded, but Biden was fine.

Biden had emerged from the C17 military transport that carried him to Baghdad for a greeting by Odierno, Hill and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. Biden was accompanied by his national security adviser, Tony Blinken and Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg.

They boarded helicopters for a flight to the Green Zone, arriving there at 5:08 pm local time.

Biden left Andrews Air Force Base on Monday night at 7:15 pm EDT and stopped en route to Baghdad to change planes and board the military transport at a British Air Force Base.

The White House, which had not announced the trip in advance, said this morning that the vice president wouldl meet with U.S. troops and several Iraqi leaders including President Jalal Talabani; Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and Speaker of the Council of Representatives Ayad al-Samarrai.

With the Obama administration pledging to withdraw U.S. troops by 2011 the vice president "will convey the strong U.S. commitment to Iraq's future and national unity,'' according to the White House.

President Obama has asked Biden to provide a "sustained, high- level focus from the White House on Iraq and this trip is part of that mission,'' the White House said.

This is the vice president's third trip to Iraq this year. He visited Iraq in July and January.