[Wolfstar]

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iraq's Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari meet with reporters in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone May 15, 2005. Rice made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday to discuss how to fight the escalating insurgency, and authorities said they found the bodies of 34 men killed by guerrillas. (See note above about the term insurgency. The violence may be escalating, but it is being perpetrated by terrorists from other Arab countries. The majority are Saudi nationals.)

Escorted by armed guards, Secretary of State Rice arrives for a meeting with Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani (R) in the northern city of Salahuddin, just north of Arbil. Rice made her first visit to Iraq as Secretary of State to show support for a fledgling government struggling to tame communal rivalries and battle a raging insurgency.

The Secretary wears earmuffs as she sits in the cockpit of a C-17 U.S. military plane which flew in from Qatar to the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Arbil.

[Wolfstar]

Condi and the Iraqi Prime Minister.

Handshake. It almost seems as though Condi has traveled more in these past four months than Colin Powell traveled in the first four years of this administration.

At the press conference in Baghdad.

Judging from TV coverage, Condi received a hero's welcome in Iraq.

[luvie]

I love it that Condi is "hands-on" and full steam ahead! She is the greatest....and such an asset to our country. I believe with all my heart that she is going to be way more effective than Colin Powell because she DOES share the same policies with the President!

[Cecily]

I love the fuzzy dice! Do airplane cockpits have rearview mirrors?