John Kerry in Baghdad as militants seize more control

Published: 7:23PM Monday June 23, 2014 Source: AP

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US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Baghdad to personally urge the Shiite-led government to give more power to political opponents before a Sunni insurgency seizes more control across the country and sweeps away hopes for lasting peace.

The meeting scheduled between Kerry and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki isn't expected to be friendly, given that officials in Washington have floated suggestions that the Iraqi premier should resign as a necessary first step toward quelling the vicious uprising.

Nor will it likely bring any immediate, tangible results, as al-Maliki has shown no sign of leaving and Iraqi officials have long listened to - but ultimately ignored - US advice to avoid appearing controlled by the decade-old spectre of an American occupation in Baghdad.

Still, having suffered together through more than eight years of war - which killed nearly 4,500 American troops and more than 100,000 Iraqis - the two wary allies are unwilling to turn away from the very real prospect of the Mideast nation falling into a fresh bout of sectarian strife.

'This is a critical moment where, together, we must urge Iraq's leaders to rise above sectarian motivations and form a government that is united in its determination to meet the needs and speak to the demands of all of their people,' Mr Kerry said a day earlier in Cairo.

Mr Kerry is scheduled to meet first with al-Maliki in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, which houses the prime minister's office and parliament building as well as the US Embassy. He then will talk to the influential Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim, who heads a leading rival Shiite political party; Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's highest-ranking Sunnis; and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, a Kurd.