WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has dispatched a team of advisers to Iraq to discuss future cooperation with the country's new government, officials here said Tuesday.
They confirmed a report in the Washington Post that the team was sent last week and headed by foreign service veteran Richard Jones, who will be a special adviser to Rice on Iraq policy.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters the advisers were asked "to look at key sectors and areas where we will need to work with the new Iraqi government."
Among those making the trip were General Raymond Odierno of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Roman Martinez of the National Security Council, James Kunder of the US Agency for International Development, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robin Raphel.
Also along was Philip Zelikow, a University of Virginia political scientist who co-wrote a book on Europe with Rice. The Post said he was expected to be appointed a counselor to the chief US diplomat.
They were sent to Iraq amid an intense round of political jockeying to form a new government following the landmark elections for a national assembly on January 30.
Boucher said the tour was similar to the Pentagon mission conferred on General Gary Luck who was asked to assess requirements for training Iraqi security forces.
Jones was a former ambassador to Kuwait, Lebanon and Kazakhstan, and the deputy to former Iraq overseer Paul Bremer during the US occupation of Iraq from April 2003 to June 2004.
Although no formal announcement was made, Boucher said Rice expected to appoint Jones "to help coordinate our policy on Iraq and advise her on our policy in Iraq."
02/15/2005 20:47 GMT - AFP