WASHINGTON - US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Friday US and Iraqi troops have succeeded in reducing the levels of violence in Baghdad.
Rumsfeld discussed the situation with visiting Iraqi deputy president Adil Abd Al-Mahdi who said a "good dialogue" was under way aimed at reconciling the countries bitterly divided religious communities.
Efforts to quell sectarian violence in Baghdad "have been successful in the sense that we are seeing a reduction in the levels of violence, and in the numbers of attacks, in the areas particularly that the forces have been able to clear," Rumsfeld said.
"Iraqi forces have been doing a very good job," he told reporters after the meeting.
Al-Mahdi also met with President George Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley during what he described as a private visit to Washington.
The Iraqi said the improved security situation in Baghdad was "the answer to all those talking about civil war in Iraq. We don't think we are leading to one."
08/25/2006 17:46 GMT