VP, Biden review means to boost bilateral ties

Iraq-Bilateral BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi on Monday discussed with the visiting Vie President-elect Joe Biden means of bolstering bilateral ties and mechanisms to activate the security pact and the framework agreement signed between the two countries, a statement said. “Abdul Mahdi stressed the importance of fostering the bilateral ties for the good of the two people,” said the statement released by Abdul Mahdi’s office received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “Senator Biden stressed his country’s commitments toward Iraq and the importance of Iraq’s stability,” it added. A presidential source had earlier said that Joe Biden arrived in Baghdad on Monday on a surprise visit to Iraq. Biden voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq but later became a critic of the war and the way in which President George W. Bush was executing it. He is best known in Iraq as the author of a 2006 plan to divide the country into self-governing Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish enclaves — an idea that offended many Iraqi politicians and was quietly put on the back burner as violence ebbed. SH (S)/SR 1